Hydroelectric power is falling out of favor in the West, and providers of hydro are beginning to weigh the environmental costs of some dams against the economic benefits. According to a story by the AP that ran in Utah’s Salt Lake Tribune [1], some utility companies are deciding that the dams are no longer worth it.

According to the article, Portland General Electric (PGE) will spend $17 million to remove the Bull Run Hydroelectric Project on Oregon’s Sandy River, on the grounds that the dam project “is no longer economical, can be replaced more cheaply by wind generation and causes too much harm to salmon for the power it produces.” The utility will donate 1,500 acres for habitat and recreation.

Many dams, the article reports, are running afoul of the Endangered Species Act, posing harm to federally protected fish and wildlife.

Environmental groups have been fighting for years for the dismantling of many dams in the West, most visibly the massive Glen Canyon Dam. The Glen Canyon Institute [2] has been leading the movement to restore “a healthy Colorado River through Glen Canyon” by taking down the dam. Last summer brought the water level in Lake Powell – the reservoir created by the dam – to record lows, exposing hundreds of miles of side canyons that had been submerged since the reservoir filled in 1963.

Photo credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [3]