Dammed to extinction, Southern Resident Orcas are starving. Time is running out!
Dammed to extinction, Southern Resident Orcas are starving. Time is running out!
The Issue
Stand with us and support removing the four lower Snake River dams to save the Southern Resident Orcas (aka Southern Resident Killer Whales) from being dammed to extinction.
Please sign this petition, and also send a message to the President at the White House. Ask that he issue an Executive Order to immediately breach the four fish-killing lower Snake River dams to recover Snake River wild chinook that have sustained the fish-eating Southern Resident Orcas for hundreds of thousands of years. The President has that power.
For current news on the Southern Residents' plight, skip to the petition update section below the comments.
The Petition:
The less than 75 remaining critically endangered salmon-eating Southern Resident Orcas are starving and dying. An effective breeding population of less than 30 is all that is left. These orcas are nearing the point of no recovery.
Why are the Southern Residents starving?
More than 50% of their winter diet comes from salmon produced in the Columbia Basin, half of which were once produced in the Snake River System. Four fish-killing dams on the lower Snake River have decimated the wild salmon and steelhead runs.
How is dam breaching possible?
Since 2002, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the lower Snake River has designated dam breaching as the best solution to recover Snake River wild salmon.
The Army Corps of Engineers can implement breaching the dams now by using the existing 2002 EIS's "Breach Alternative Four."
The Impact and Benefits of Breaching:
• If the lower Snake River dams were breached, it would double or triple salmon survival rates, restoring millions of fish to the Columbia Basin.
• Give the orcas a fighting chance to recover by increasing their food supply.
• Breaching costs the state nothing. The first two dams can be breached for about the cost of the 2020 CRSO EIS, an estimated $80 million. Breaching could take as little as 5 years to complete. It would cost less to save the salmon than to kill them.
• The four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington do not provide flood control and produce mostly low value surplus electricity.
• Savings from breaching these dams can be applied to more efficient dams and/or projects.
• NOTHING else, not more spill across the dams, not more hatchery fish, not less boat traffic, not more studies, not a new EIS can improve conditions in time to save wild salmon or Southern Resident Orcas.
Congressional Legislation or new appropriations are not needed to start breaching the Snake River dams this year! The President can issue an executive order to breach.
Senators Murray and Cantwell and Governor Ferguson — Please take action today and urge the President to begin breaching the dams this year.
Thank you to the hundreds of thousands who have petitioned for immediate dam breaching, for those of you who want more information on how to save the salmon and orcas, visit DamTRUTH.
933,208
The Issue
Stand with us and support removing the four lower Snake River dams to save the Southern Resident Orcas (aka Southern Resident Killer Whales) from being dammed to extinction.
Please sign this petition, and also send a message to the President at the White House. Ask that he issue an Executive Order to immediately breach the four fish-killing lower Snake River dams to recover Snake River wild chinook that have sustained the fish-eating Southern Resident Orcas for hundreds of thousands of years. The President has that power.
For current news on the Southern Residents' plight, skip to the petition update section below the comments.
The Petition:
The less than 75 remaining critically endangered salmon-eating Southern Resident Orcas are starving and dying. An effective breeding population of less than 30 is all that is left. These orcas are nearing the point of no recovery.
Why are the Southern Residents starving?
More than 50% of their winter diet comes from salmon produced in the Columbia Basin, half of which were once produced in the Snake River System. Four fish-killing dams on the lower Snake River have decimated the wild salmon and steelhead runs.
How is dam breaching possible?
Since 2002, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the lower Snake River has designated dam breaching as the best solution to recover Snake River wild salmon.
The Army Corps of Engineers can implement breaching the dams now by using the existing 2002 EIS's "Breach Alternative Four."
The Impact and Benefits of Breaching:
• If the lower Snake River dams were breached, it would double or triple salmon survival rates, restoring millions of fish to the Columbia Basin.
• Give the orcas a fighting chance to recover by increasing their food supply.
• Breaching costs the state nothing. The first two dams can be breached for about the cost of the 2020 CRSO EIS, an estimated $80 million. Breaching could take as little as 5 years to complete. It would cost less to save the salmon than to kill them.
• The four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington do not provide flood control and produce mostly low value surplus electricity.
• Savings from breaching these dams can be applied to more efficient dams and/or projects.
• NOTHING else, not more spill across the dams, not more hatchery fish, not less boat traffic, not more studies, not a new EIS can improve conditions in time to save wild salmon or Southern Resident Orcas.
Congressional Legislation or new appropriations are not needed to start breaching the Snake River dams this year! The President can issue an executive order to breach.
Senators Murray and Cantwell and Governor Ferguson — Please take action today and urge the President to begin breaching the dams this year.
Thank you to the hundreds of thousands who have petitioned for immediate dam breaching, for those of you who want more information on how to save the salmon and orcas, visit DamTRUTH.
933,208
The Decision Makers
Bob FergusonFormer Washington Attorney General
No response (notified 86 days ago)
The Supporters
Featured Comments
Please for the love of everyone, open the damns. The orcas are starving. They only eat salmon. The only calf this year is perished, born the same time my puppy was along Alki. Stop harming higher level beings. Whales, elephants, pigs they all feel and communicate. As humans we are responsible for keeping life alive. We are all connected. Once predators parish the ocean will die, all life in the ocean. Stop eating their food. We are able to grow plants to sustain ourselves. God created animals to be smarter than humans so humans can’t trick them. The rivet in the system will kill every human. There is no way for us to adapt that fast. We need to grow plants. Those are my whales and I feel personally harmed by the damage people have committed to my planet. You killed my baby. You forced me from my home because of outrageous rent increases. When is life going to be more important than cold hard money?
As a species we spend billions in the hope of finding intelligent life amidst the stars, while stealing the lifeblood of those here on Earth. Before looking heavenward, we ought to seek to get our house in order here, on Earth, of which the oceans are a majority shareholder, and protect the wonderful, bright, loving creatures that inhabit it.
The endangered southern resident orcas are facing extinction. Their most important need is food, a daily consumption of Chinook salmon. Our elected officials, who work for us the people, need to listen to what the experts have reported over and over, what we have been telling them, over and over, stop dragging your feet, open your eyes and see what they need, look at the state they are in. 3 dead newborn calves in a row is 3 too many! Open your ears and listen to what we have been saying, listen to the whales!! They are starving! They need more salmon. Remove the dams. Don't just think about it, no more hemming and hawing over it, just do it!
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Petition created on December 11, 2014