Army Corps of Engineers: An Assessment of the Lower Snake River Dams' Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Abstract
In December 1999, the Corps released its draft EIS assessing the biological, environmental, economic, and social consequences of breaching the four dams and of the other three alternatives. The draft EIS, which cost more than $22 million to prepare, made no recommendations about which alternative to adopt. The final EIS, which will include a preferred alternative, is not expected until 2001. The Corps conducted a comprehensive EIS process that generally adhered to the procedural requirements of the relevant federal laws and other guidelines for conducting an EIS. However, doing so did not eliminate controversy about the EIS' analysis or conclusions, even though the draft EIS made no recommendations about whether the dams should be breached. In our judgment, the Corps' analysis and presentation of the effects of breaching on electricity costs is reasonable; however, we could not determine the reasonableness of the Corps' estimated effects on transportation costs and air quality. For example, because breaching the dams would make the river too shallow for barge shipments, the Corps estimated that as much as $532 million in infrastructure improvements would be needed for road, rail, and storage facilities if barge shipments ceased on the Snake River. However, the Corps assumed that these new investments would not affect the transportation cost estimate without testing the validity of this assumption or measuring the sensitivity of the transportation cost estimate to this assumption. Likewise, the Corps did not consider air quality effects from breaching on certain local populations or the effect of exposing potentially contaminated river sediments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 12, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA381894
Entities
People
- Derek B. Stewart
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office