The Consequences of Removing Dams and Changing River Flow in the Essay

The Consequences of Removing Dams and Changing River Flow in the Columbia River in Washington & Oregon - Essay Example This crisis poses wholesale environmental, economic and social consequences; hence, this survey examines some of the major consequences of removing the dams and changing the Columbia River flow and describing the impact upon salmon numbers. The debate over the controversial topic of dam removal in order to safeguard the salmon against extinction rages among environmentalists, scientists, politicians, fishing families, river-based entrepreneurs, etcetera. The Army Corps of Engineer's report, according to Richard Davis, identifies "three critical industries [that] would suffer closing or relocations if the dams were to be removed. Primarily aluminum manufacturing would be hit by higher electricity rates. Wood products producers would incur higher costs to ship logs, wood chips, pulp paper and lumber. [Likewise], food processors would be damaged by the loss of crops grown on lands irrigated from the lower Snake River" (awb.org/). "The U.S. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has estimated that breaching the dams would increase electricity bills for Northwest ratepayers by $300 million, add $40 million to transportation costs, eliminate 37,000 acres of prime irrigated farmland, wipe out 2,300 jobs, and cut personal income by $278 million a year." (qtd in Brunell awb.org/cgi-bin/absolutenm/templates/a=1201&z=10) However, Dan Hansen noted that the U.S. Army Corps' extensive report provides no recommendations to resolve the environmental crisis the Pacific northwest faces (bluefish.org/offersno.htm). In contrast, however, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services was quite resolute in its response to the situation; it has claimed that deciding on a course of action should be very easy indeed because "for native fish and wildlife, a free-flowing river is better than a dammed river" (bluefish.org/offersno.htm). Apparently, according to Hansen also, some scientists believe that the best method of protecting the endangered fish populations lies in breaching the dams. The impact of dismantling the dams, however, would entail life-altering repercussions on the surroundings and human populations. For example, the annual economic costs would be pegged at $246 million owing to losses in electricity production (bluefish.org/offersno.htm). Sealing off the interlocking dam mechanisms with their attendant closure of the federal waterways would most likely result in the demise of Lewiston, Idaho, for example, as a "seaport." Should a dam breach be effected Lewiston, Idaho, would no longer be the harbor providing navigational facilities for ocean-going ships. Furthermore, because the locking mechanisms of Snake River dams facilitate barge freight from Lewiston, Idaho to the Pacific Ocean, commodities presently being shipped by barges would have to be re-routed to trucks or railways. Another ramification would engender the federal government having to invest billions into new highways, state roads and railway lines if the dams are disrupted (Brunell). Along this argument, Richard Davis also announced that the economic consequences of removing the dams "would fall heavily on rural Eastern Washington and the Columbia

Iraq Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Iraq - Essay Example This paper seeks to assess the Iraqi nation in terms of its profile and politics. It seeks to assess how the nation can be improved applying the different theories in social and political sciences. It shall also present the problems and the social ills that Iraq is currently experiencing, how these came about, and possible ways of addressing these problems. It shall use primary resource materials in books and the latest online materials published. It shall mainly be a literature search of materials relevant to the topic at hand. This paper shall also relate these materials researched to previous textbooks used during class lectures. Iraq is an independent state located in the Middle East. The Republic of Iraq is bounded on the east by Iran, on the southeast by Kuwait and the Gulf, on the north by Turkey, on the southwest by Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and on the northwest by Syria. It is almost a landlocked state except for 56 kilometers of coastline that gives it access to the Gulf (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 2007). It has distinct topographical regions: the uplands and the Kurdistan Mountains, the barren desert plains, and the irrigated farm lands of the Mesopotamia. Overall the economy of Iraq is bad. International economic sanctions have largely impoverished the country. About 16% of the economy comes from their agricultural sector. It is the world’s primary producer of dates. It has the second largest oil reserve in the world (Kjeilen, 2009). But with the United Nations sanctions still effective over the country, it remains a largely impoverished nation. The latest GDP data pegs the country at a 5. 9% real economic growth (Index Mundi, 2009). Life expectancy in Iraq became lower due to the advent of the war. The life expectancy for males is now 59 years old and for females, it is 57 years old. These figures dropped from 1990’s 66.5 life expectancy (Rosenberg, 2007). The Crude Birth rate for Iraq has also