The U.S. built more than 1,000 hydroelectric dams over the last century. These dams are as different in size, shape and function as the rivers where they were built. Their social and environmental costs and benefits also differ.

Tribes, states, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have recently pushed to remove four federally-owned dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington State. The goal is to restore abundant salmon runs and honor tribal rights and treaties.

But in a congressional hearing on May 7, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he “passionately” supports keeping these four dams around. Wright also revealed that he has no idea what these four dams actually do.

Not all dams are the same. The Lower Snake River dams don’t produce the kind of “high value electricity” that Wright claimed they do. These four dams produce just 4 percent of the region’s electricity, mostly in

© The Hill