Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), Bought and Paid For

By the hydropower industry:

In a surgical strike from Capitol Hill, Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) has eliminated a little-known agency that counts endangered fish in the Columbia River.

..."Data cloaked in advocacy create confusion," Craig said on the Senate floor this month, after successfully inserting language in an energy and water appropriations bill that bans all future funding for the Fish Passage Center. "False science leads people to false choices."

...Salmon math has clearly riled up Craig, who in his last election campaign in 2002 received more money from electric utilities than from any other industry and who has been named "legislator of the year" by the National Hydropower Association.

...Here in Portland, Michele DeHart, a fish biologist who is the longtime manager of the center, said..."I guess I am flabbergasted. We are biologists and computer scientists, and what we do is just math. Math can't hurt you."

...The Fish Passage Center has documented, in excruciating statistical detail, how the Columbia-Snake hydroelectric system kills salmon.

Please, pretty please, call Senator Craig and tell him this is abominable. If all he cares about is money, point out to him how the fishing/tourism industry might suffer from a depleted salmon population.

Otherwise, please encourage your Senators to propose an amendment restoring this organization's funding.