Letters to the editor May 23

Threats to dams in the Northwest

I want to thank Mr. Moore for his recent letter to the editor (May 20) pointing out the numerous threats to the dams in the Northwest that produce the low-cost, reliable, carbon-free renewable energy that we all have enjoyed for decades. The dams in the Northwest face an uncertain future. Without all of us actively protecting our preference rights to the energy from the dams, what happened in Texas and California could be a reality here in the Flathead Valley.

The threat to the dams comes from many angles. There are groups that want to remove the dams even though electric ratepayers like you have spent nearly $17 billion since 1980 to improve fish passage. Washington and Oregon continue to implement policies and rules that restrict the output from the dams. Federal judges in Oregon continue to make rulings against the dams and are in essence operating the dams from the bench.

You need to know that Flathead Electric is very engaged in this issue. The trustees and staff at Flathead Electric spend a significant amount of time in the region working on issues related to the dams, and our intention is to do whatever we can to ensure that you continue to have access to the energy produced by the dams now and into the future.

It is important you stay engaged with Montana’s congressional delegation on this topic and if you want more information, please visit our website at www.flatheadelectric.com/hydro.

—Mark Johnson is General Manager at Flathead Electric Cooperative

Blankenship camping

Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele’s decision to allow continued motorized camping at the gravel bar downstream from Blankenship bridge contradicts his agency’s management directives as stated in their website regarding Wild and Scenic Rivers “to ensure that...water quality and the outstanding remarkable values of these rivers are protected from overuse, in-stream developments and other impacts that do not enhance these values.”

He exempts himself from following this mandate by saying that district staff didn’t “observe levels of permanent or irreversible resource damage associated with camping.” Steele apparently believes that a summer’s worth of accumulated human waste and toxic automotive fluids isn’t a permanent problem, since annual spring floods wash it all away into Flathead Lake.

The access road to the site is a treacherous eyesore that should either be rehabilitated and closed, or reconstructed. Although Steele says there’s no resource damage being done, District Ranger Rob Davies told me last March that he wasn’t going to improve the road because he wanted to limit the number of campers using the site.

But Steele and Davies agree on one thing. They both say that long-term management of the area is “currently under review in the Flathead Comprehensive River Management Plan.” In other words, they can kick the can down the road, pretending there aren’t too many campers, that they’re all conscientious, and that occasional patrols by district staff will prevent resource degradation.

Living on the headwaters of the Columbia, we enjoy some of the purest water on Earth. The Forest Service should protect this irreplaceable resource instead of catering to spoiled recreationists who have grown accustomed to polluting our river with impunity.

The gravel bar below the bridge should be a walk-in, day-use-only area.

—Bob Love, Columbia Falls

Child tax credits

We can cut child poverty in half — permanently.

The Biden Administration just proposed extending support for workers and families enacted earlier this year, by making permanent both an increase to the Earned Income Tax Credit for younger workers and others not raising children and an expansion of the full Child Tax Credit to all low-income families. He also proposes extending the increased CTC amount ($3,000+ per child) until 2025.

These steps are important, but Congress must make all the CTC changes permanent, including the credit increase. Columbia University estimates this new CTC will cut child poverty by 45%. We can pay for this by asking the wealthy and corporations to finally pay their fair share.

If you could cut child poverty in half, why would you not do it?

Please urge our Representative Matt Rosendale and Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines to make the new CTC and EITC provisions at 2021 levels permanent in recovery legislation,

—Karen Cunningham, Coram