The feds are expected to purchase two dams on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and begin planning how to demolish at least one of them, under an agreement reached between the Clinton administration and two Washington politicians, Rep. Norm Dicks (D) and Sen. Slade Gorton (R). Removal of the dams, championed by Dicks, was authorized by Congress in 1992 to help restore imperiled salmon runs, but the process has been held up by financial and political problems, including strong resistance from Gorton. The new agreement is included in a controversial spending bill for the Interior Department, which Pres. Clinton is likely to veto, but the Elwha provision is expected to remain intact. Meanwhile, in wrangling over another spending bill, House-Senate conferees yesterday approved just slightly more than one-third of the funding Clinton requested for salmon recovery plans in the Northwest. Clinton may veto the bill containing this provision as well.
