dams. Irrigation pumps for fields in southeastern Washington would also have to reach further to access the water of the Snake River. However, proponents for restoring salmon runs by dam removal argue that the power is replaceable, that the grain transportation system could be replaced by railroads, and that only one of the four reservoirs supplies irrigation water. Irrigators in the Snake River Plain would likely need to allow less water into the Snake River during low flow in order to create a current in the four lower reservoirs, and recreation and tourism would likely benefit. In a late 2022 opinion piece published in The Spokesman-Review, Trout Unlimited scientist Helen Neville wrote an up-to-date summary of the problems the dams cause for salmon. "Scientific analysis has repeatedly pointed toward the negative impacts of how the dams impede juvenile and adult fish migration, heat the water to deadly temperatures, inundate 140 miles of mainstem spawning and rearing habitat, and provide ideal conditions for expanding populations of predators feasting on salmon and steelhead smolts." Furthermore, well-meaning efforts to support salmon with hatcheries are insufficiently successful. "Billions of dollars have been spent producing hatchery salmon and steelhead to prop up fisheries, as Congressionally mandated to mitigate the population losses caused by the dams, and it is not working to recover wild fish." In opposing breaching, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) cites the value of the four lower Snake River dams in generating low-cost, zero-carbon electricity, and the substantial financial cost of replacing their output. Their evidence for this is in a report by energy consulting firm Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. (E3). The report includes complicated scenarios, but a consideration of all of the technologies potentially involved in replacing the dams' electricity generation is needed for the public to assess whether the costs are bearable or not for the sake of saving salmon. The sum capacity of the four dams is 3,483 MW maximum power output, with approximately 2,300 MW of firm peaking capability to avoid power shortages during extreme cold weather events. The dams also provide operational flexibility in changing power output with short-term reserves plus multi-hour ramping / renewable integration capabilities. Their approximately 900 MW average hourly output is enough to support about 450,000 households. Replacement of the dams would require "a combination of renewable generation (wind), 'clean firm' resources (such as dual fuel natural gas plus hydrogen plants, advanced nuclear,