The "Dammed to Extinction" filmmaker talks about the need for clean, renewable energy and the myth about hydropower
In the summer of 2018, the Pacific Northwest became captivated by the story of Tahlequah.
The tragic tale, covered by every medium from drone footage to podcasts, became a landmark event for environmentalists in the region. Tahlequah, a grieving orca mother, pushed her dead calf with her head for 17 days and 1,000 miles off the coast in Seattle as the world watched.
Tahlequah was part of the Southern Resident killer whale group, which brought orcas to global attention for its the imminent threat of extinction. None of the calves born to moms in the Southern Resident killer whale group have survived in the past three years, a crisis credited to the lack of Chinook salmon coming from the region’s most active rivers.
Four dams on the lower Snake River choke off access to thousands of miles of river in the Pacific Northwest. Environmental activists argue these dams are obsolete, and the Corps of Engineers should remove them.
PROTESTS: Demonstrators want Snake River dams breached
Eight years ago, environmental journalist Steven Hawley wrote “Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities” about the salmon population decline due to dams on the Snake River. The book inspired the documentary film “Dam Nation” by Patagonia . Now in his own documentary, “Dammed to Extinction,” Hawley highlights the threats to the salmon and orca populations of the Pacific Northwest. The film was part of the 2019 Portland Ecofilm Festival and continues touring the country to draw attention to the plight of both salmon and whales. On Sunday, Dec. 15, Hawley and director Michael Peterson will be talking with audiences after a screening of the film at the Lloyd Center, sponsored by Conscious Growth.
One thing is for sure, Hawley said: Humans caused, and can solve, this issue.
Casey Miller: What drew you to this subject, and how did this project start?
Steven Hawley: I wrote a book about river restoration and dam removal a few years back (“Recovering a Lost River”), and one chapter in that book was about the Southern Resident killer whales. Three or four years ago, the director of the Center for Whale Research called and said, “Hey, look, I know we talked about doing something more about the relationship between salmon and orcas, and if you ever wanted to do that the time is now.” Because ecologically, things had gotten pretty dicey for these whales. So I started mulling over the idea of making a film. I’m not a filmmaker, but I know some people who are. I got in touch with Michael Peterson, the director, and we started making the documentary.
Miller: Can you describe the journey from writing “Recovering a Lost River” to writing “Dammed to Extinction”? What was the crossover from writing a book to screenwriting like for you?
Hawley: Book writing is telling a story in words and screenwriting is telling a story in pictures, so you get one chance to relay an image to your audience. It was a baptism by fire, I guess!
But the images and the video clips of the whales themselves were probably some of the most difficult parts, especially the segment in the film that concerns the death of a stillborn baby calf. Then the mother subsequently pushed it around for 17 or 18 days. … It’s been difficult to watch that footage when we were making the film. It was a case where an animal came as close to talking, as (close to) communicating with people, as we generally find, so I hope we did it justice.
Miller: How would you say that living in the Pacific Northwest influences your interests and what you write about?
Hawley: I grew up here. And my introduction to rivers came from a good friend of mine growing up, who is a fly fisherman, and kind of taught me the ways of the rivers of the Pacific Northwest.
Miller: These dams were built in the 1950s through the 1980s, and they produce energy and enable grain shipments, which help the economy in the area. But proponents of the dam removal say those reasons no longer justify the dams. Could you explain the impact removing those dams might have?
Hawley: Well, I think the reason this has become such a hot-button issue is because of the number of studies that suggest that removing the dams would actually be a net benefit to the region. So there’s no reason why you couldn’t take out the dams and have all the interested parties come out whole economically. Then there are two things.
One is the barging you mentioned. There’s some interesting research that’s been done on that. Using the Corps of Engineers reports on numbers , it turns out that every barge that leaves one of the forks on the Snake River leaves the port of Lewiston with about a $25,000 taxpayer subsidy. It would be much cheaper to pay the farmers that subsidy and have things shipped by rail.
Second, on the energy side of it, there is no electricity for many of those dams that have been used inside the Pacific Northwest for at least 10 years. All of the power that’s produced by the Snake River dams is sold out, mostly in California. And because of changes in the Western energy market, that power is being sold at a loss most of the time. California doesn’t need the energy anymore; they’re producing an abundance of their own alternative energy sources and mostly through solar power. It would actually save money to not have those dams producing electricity anymore.
Miller: Some environmentalists argue that hydroelectric dams are a great source of carbon-free energy in a time of climate crisis.
Hawley: Well, here’s the nasty little secret that the hydropower industry doesn’t want people to know. Dams are a net contributor to greenhouse gases. Every reservoir on earth produces a significant quantity of methane gas.
In a reservoir, you have organic matter, mostly plant material that is decomposing. Your basic chemistry decomposition that happens outside the presence of oxygen yields methane, and a lot of it. So, these dams are not carbon-free. They’re certainly not pollution-free.
Dams become essentially giant factories sitting in the river and they have all the same problems that factories on land do. The whole idea that you’re getting carbon- or pollution-free energy from a dam is just completely a myth.
Miller: There are so many issues plaguing our environment locally and across the world. How do we as a community in the Pacific Northwest prioritize where and how we want to affect climate change? There are so many different problems with so many different solutions — so what’s most important?
Hawley: Look at what California’s doing. I think that’s a perfect model: a series of state laws targeting an increasing percentage of the state energy coming from renewables locally. And they’re way ahead of their goal to be completely powered by renewable energy by 2045.
How did they do that? Well, you have to have the will of the Legislature. I think both Oregon and Washington actually have two huge problems because, at both the state and congressional level, representatives seem to be keenly uninterested in doing the kind of bold things that California has done. Honestly, I think one of the reasons they’re uninterested is the myth about cheap, clean hydropower. It’s so prevalent in political circles. That’s one thing that I’m hoping the film can do – help loosen the grip that that mythology has on the region.
Q&A: What Oregon can learn from California on lowering emissions
The simple fact of the matter is California is making more energy, more cheaply than what all the dams in the Pacific Northwest can provide. There are some other projects going in all over the country right now that are producing energy at about two-thirds the cost of what we pay here in the region.
So the question is, do we want to have a future with not only no salmon or orcas, but be stuck with some of the most expensive electricity in the country? Depressingly, so far the answer from our politicians is yes; that’s the future. That’s something that has to change.
Miller: What has to happen to get rid of the dams? Is it mostly legislation, then?
Hawley: We’ve got to create the political will to start pushing out a vision, of both our energy and our environmental future, that truly looks to what are the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly options. That seems to be the direction we should be heading. Germany is going there, and California is going there. Large parts of the rest of the world are going there. And in the Northwest, we’re still standing on top of our concrete structures in the middle of our rivers saying, “Hey, we’ve got it made.” And, we don’t.
Miller: What can people like me, who don’t have a seat in the Oregon Legislature, do if we want to support dam removal?
Hawley: I think the main thing you can do is let your utility provider know, whether you’re getting power from a public utility district or corporate utility, that you’d like to move to solar, move to renewables and get off of hydropower because hydropower is more expensive and less environmentally friendly than solar.
Certainly, you can contact your state and congressional representative and let them know. I think one of the most depressing things is that Gov. Kate Brown keeps saying when asked about the issue, “Well, I don’t hear enough from my constituents saying that they want something different other than the status quo.” So, letting the governor’s office know that something different needs to happen is a pretty important step.
And then there’s talking to whoever will listen. I think that probably one of the more debilitating things about our political system right now is what you just mentioned: “I don’t have a lot of power on my own.” And you don’t, and you know, most of us don’t. But coalitions of people certainly have power.
If you look back to this issue going 40, 50 years ago, there were enough people that were fed up with the way the energy system in the Northwest was working that they forced legislation through Congress. It was called the Northwest Power Act. What we need is sort of a Northwest Power Act 2.0.
I know the only way that’s going to happen is if people band together and make it happen. Because right now, our leaders are not going to do it on their own.
Miller: Finally, what is the most important thing you want viewers to take away from “Dammed to Extinction”?
Hawley: People need to recognize that we live in what was, until very recently, one of the richest marine ecosystems on Earth. We owe it to our kids and grandkids to try to rebuild that system, however much we can. It’s their inheritance – it’s their biological inheritance – and we’ve almost squandered it. But it’s not too late.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Dammed to Extinction” screening
WHERE: 2201 Lloyd Center, first floor, west end, Storefront C124.
WHEN: Doors open at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15. Screening 6:30-7:30 p.m. Question and reflection session until 8 p.m.
TICKETS: $10
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