The problem in the PNW is that these lakes are bad habitat for our native salmon. The more dams we make, the less habitat there is for the salmon. It's not a ma

The problem in the PNW is that these lakes are bad habitat for our native salmon. The more dams we make, the less habitat there is for the salmon. It's not a matter of "oh we just don't like them on principal." Rather, they tore down the dam in Elwha because it eliminated what was previously a thriving spawning ground and replaced it with a silty lake full of invasive species. Everything is interconnected, and it's a really typical technocratic attitude to say that it's fine in isolation. "Who gives a shit? It's just a bunch of fish." Analytical people eschew context. Analysis is about reducing everything to components. And guess what -- it has led us astray here. It turns out in the PNW that salmon are a major part of the food chain for a lot of animals, and our hydropower efforts are suppressing that food chain. It's also making it really hard to find enough salmon to fish for ourselves. You'll see similar problems with the Colorado River. The Hoover Dam has basically destroyed all the downstream ecosystems that relied on the water to create their living conditions. It's an ecological disaster in slow motion.