Snake River Dams and the Wheat Industry By Kailee Macy

The Snake River Dams are essential to wheat exports. Over 15 million metric tons of wheat for export purposes move on the Columbia-Snake River system. This affects the United States wheat exports as a whole because each year nearly ten percent of US wheat exports travel by barge on the Snake River. This is a pertinent issue to the wheat industry because over 60% of the cargo that moves on this system is United States grown wheat that is soon exported overseas.

The four lower Snake River dams are at high risk of being breached due to lawsuits by environmental agencies. There are four stocks of salmon and steelhead listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act that return to the Snake River with the sockeye salmon the most at risk. If the water is above 68 degrees, the salmon’s migratory patterns upstream will be affected. The water temperatures in the Lower Snake River varies each year. In 2015, the water was warmer than 68 degrees for two months and the EPA reported that about 250,000 adult sockeye salmon died due to the water temperatures. In 2022 with cooler water temperatures the estimated survival rate of the salmon was much higher. Hot air temperatures heavily contribute to hot river water temperatures. Heat related salmon die-offs are seen in many undammed rivers, some worse than the Snake River. Currently, hydropower accounts for 90% of the Pacific Northwest’s energy. By removing hydroelectric dams this will further worsen climate change by cutting back the amount of clean energy being produced, making river temperatures even higher.

Carbon dioxide is a gas that absorbs and radiates heat in all directions. More carbon dioxide is being released than is being filtered each year, increasing the amount in the atmosphere. This in turn is warming the planet. Carbon dioxide levels are rising because of fossil fuels being burned for energy. Removing these four dams along the Snake River, would in turn remove a lot of barge transportation for wheat and would further the issue of carbon dioxide emissions being released into the air. Transportation through barges is the most environmentally friendly and safest way to get wheat to market. In 2019 the amount of cargo that was barged on the Snake River was equal to nearly 40,000 rail cars or 150,000 semi trucks if the dams were removed. For every ton of cargo moved on a gallon of diesel, trucks move 169 miles, rail moves 412 miles, and barging moves 475. Barging is the most fuel efficient method of transporting wheat, producing 10% of carbon per ton mile of cargo compared to trucks. Additionally, for one standard barge, it takes 134.5 semi trucks to move this amount of wheat. If the Snake River Dams were removed, required transport would include at least 201 unit trains and 23.8 million miles of trucking. The removal of barges on the Snake River would drastically increase the carbon footprint. This in turn would be raising water temperatures for the fish making the critical migratory period during the summer months harder, resulting in more fish deaths.

The United States’s largest wheat export passage is the Columbia-Snake River system. Dam removal would directly affect the Oregon wheat industry by increasing transportation and storage expenses by at least 50 to 100%. This could increase the cost of wheat by 80 cents per bushel if barging was removed as an option for producers’ transportation. The fuel consumption in Oregon would increase by nearly 5 million gallons per year with the removal of the Snake River Dams. The loss of hydropower would greatly impact the amount of power produced by carbon free sources.
Sources include: Capital Press, NAWG, NOAA, OWGL, PNWA, and The Seattle Times.

Our 2024 Oregon Wheat Scholarship awardees each submit an essay with their scholarship application. Learn more about the scholarship program at https://oregonwheatfoundation.org/scholarship-program/