Some bad ideas just won’t die-
My first involvement in a conservation battle was trying to stop the building of the Teton Dam. We lost. It failed in June 1976 as it was filling for the first time. It killed eleven and cost a billion dollars in damage payouts. It would have been a money loser even if it had functioned. We had even told the judge the dam wouldn’t hold water. He laughed and said, “well it won’t drown out those elk then.” Eleven people died because of this fool and others.
Now rebuilding the dam at this porous site in the mouth of the trout filled and wildlife rich canyon has surfaced again. When it doesn’t work this time, it will be Idaho taxpayers picking up tab, not just Uncle Stupid.
Kim Trotter: Arguments for rebuilding Teton Dam don’t hold water. Opinion in the Idaho Statesman.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
