www.heraldandnews.com

People have forgotten why we need to have dams

Herald and News letter to editor May 16, 2010, by Rod and Bev Marlin, Klamath Falls  

   In response to the dam-removal movement:

   We want to point out a few things that get ignored by those that want to remove the dams.

   For instance, it appears that they forgot why the dams were built to begin with: To store water for dry periods, flood control, recreation, etc. Now some people want to remove them because they feel they are interrupting fish spawning. So we are supposed to put farmers and the people who depend on the farms in jeopardy.

   So let us get this straight: We put the logging industry almost out of business because of the spotted owl, we want to shut off the water to Tulelake because of a fish and put all the farms depending on that water in jeopardy, we stopped the water to save a smelt in the Fresno valley putting 40,000-plus out of work and the list goes on.

   We now depend more and more on foreign food, foreign wood to build our homes, foreign oil because we don’t want to disturb mother nature and, yes, the list goes on and on.  

   We were once the breadbasket of the world, but are slowly but surely becoming totally dependent on foreign goods. Samuel Adams once said: “Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen …” We have the technology to deal with problems, like building salmon runs around dams and placing filters to keep the smelt from entering irrigation pipes, etc.. I have faith that American engineers could come up with something if they were given the opportunity. “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” — Samuel Adams.

   Be careful what you ask for.