Progress in Congress on protecting Northwest hydropower

For months, my Pacific Northwest congressional colleagues and I have been raising our voices and working on legislation to prevent increasing forced spill at the lower Snake and Columbia River dams from raising electricity rates in our region by $40 million.

That forced spill order, the result of a ruling of a single federal judge in Portland, took effect at the beginning of April.

Last week, our work resulted in passing bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3144, introduced by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, myself, and members of Congress from the Pacific Northwest, which would protect our dams and pres...