Editing Columbia River (section)

=== Hydroelectricity ===

The Columbia's heavy flow and large elevation drop over a short distance, {{convert|2.16|ft/mi|abbr=off|sp=us}}, give it tremendous capacity for hydroelectricity generation. In comparison, the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] drops less than {{convert|0.65|ft/mi}}. The Columbia alone possesses one-third of the United States's hydroelectric potential.{{sfn|Harden|1996|p=17}} In 2012, the river and its tributaries accounted for 29 [[Gigawatt|GW]] of hydroelectric generating capacity, contributing 44&nbsp;percent of the total hydroelectric generation in the nation.<ref name="IEA2014">{{cite web |url = https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=16891 |last = Lillis |first = Kevin |title = The Columbia River Basin Provides More Than 40% of Total U.S. Hydroelectric Generation |date = June 27, 2014 |access-date = June 1, 2016 |publisher = U.S. Energy Information Agency |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170609095801/https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=16891 |archive-date = June 9, 2017 |url-status = live }}</ref>

[[File:Woody Guthrie NYWTS.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Half-length photo of a middle-aged man sitting in front of a closed door and playing a guitar and singing. His wavy black hair is partly covered by a black hat tipped at a rakish angle. He wears a striped flannel work shirt. His black guitar has a sign on it that says, "This machine kills fascists".|''Roll on, Columbia, roll on, roll on, Columbia, roll on / Your power is turning our darkness to dawn / Roll on, Columbia, roll on.''
Lyrics from [[Woody Guthrie]]'s 1941 song [[Roll on Columbia]], written for the [[Bonneville Power Administration]].
]]

The largest of the 150 hydroelectric projects, the Grand Coulee Dam and Chief Joseph Dam are also the largest in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |title = Renewable Energy Explained |url = https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=renewable_home#tab2 |publisher = US Energy Information Administration |year = 2017 |access-date = May 9, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170611123322/https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=renewable_home |archive-date = June 11, 2017 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = Chief Joseph Dam and Rufus Woods Lake |publisher = U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |date = November 19, 2003 |url = http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/report/chj.htm |access-date = April 3, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130301183103/http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/report/chj.htm |archive-date = March 1, 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref> As of 2017, Grand Coulee is the fifth largest hydroelectric plant in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title = Three Gorges Dam: The World's Largest Hydroelectric Plant |url = https://water.usgs.gov/edu/hybiggest.html |publisher = US Geological Survey |year = 2017 |access-date = May 9, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170624222141/https://water.usgs.gov/edu/hybiggest.html |archive-date = June 24, 2017 |url-status = live }}</ref>

Inexpensive hydropower supported the location of a large [[aluminum]] industry in the region because its [[Aluminium production|reduction]] from [[bauxite]] requires large amounts of electricity. Until 2000, the Northwestern United States produced up to 17&nbsp;percent of the world's aluminum and 40&nbsp;percent of the aluminum produced in the United States.<ref name="powerdown">{{cite news |title = Aluminum Industry Powering Down |last = Kinsey Hill |first = Gail |date = March 11, 2001 |work = The Oregonian }}</ref> The commoditization of power in the early 21st century, coupled with a drought that reduced the generation capacity of the river, damaged the industry and by 2001, Columbia River aluminum producers had idled 80&nbsp;percent of its production capacity.<ref name="powerdown" /> By 2003, the entire United States produced only 15&nbsp;percent of the world's aluminum and many smelters along the Columbia had gone dormant or out of business.<ref>{{cite news |first = Gretchen |last = Fehrenbacher |title = Aluminum All But Gone |date = February 23, 2003 |work = The Columbian |access-date = September 11, 2008 |page = E1 |url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=VC&p_theme=vc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Aluminum%20all%20but%20gone&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2003&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(Aluminum%20all%20but%20gone)Êl_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:DÊl_ranksort=4Êl_useweights=yes |via = Newsbank |url-access = subscription |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191223194644/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=VC&p_theme=vc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Aluminum%20all%20but%20gone&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2003&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(Aluminum%20all%20but%20gone)%C3%8Al_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:D%C3%8Al_ranksort=4%C3%8Al_useweights=yes |archive-date = December 23, 2019 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title = BPA Chief to Detail Strategy for Troubled Power Broker |first = William |last = McCall |date = November 22, 2002 |work = The Columbian |access-date = September 12, 2008 |page = C2 |url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=VC&p_theme=vc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=BPA%20chief%20to%20detail%20strategy%20for%20troubled%20power%20broker&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2002&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(BPA%20chief%20to%20detail%20strategy%20for%20troubled%20power%20broker)Êl_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:DÊl_ranksort=4Êl_useweights=yes |via = Newsbank |url-access = subscription |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191222170950/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=VC&p_theme=vc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=BPA%20chief%20to%20detail%20strategy%20for%20troubled%20power%20broker&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2002&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(BPA%20chief%20to%20detail%20strategy%20for%20troubled%20power%20broker)%C3%8Al_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:D%C3%8Al_ranksort=4%C3%8Al_useweights=yes |archive-date = December 22, 2019 |url-status = live }}</ref>

Power remains relatively inexpensive along the Columbia, and since the mid-2000 several global enterprises have moved [[server farm]] operations into the area to avail themselves of cheap power.<ref name="nyt-google">{{cite news |title = Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power |work = The New York Times |date = June 14, 2006 |last1 = Markoff |first1 = John |last2 = Hansell |first2 = Saul |access-date = September 11, 2008 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/technology/14search.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080406111310/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/technology/14search.html |archive-date = April 6, 2008 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="fortune">{{cite journal |last = Mehta |first = Stephanie N. |title = Behold the Server Farm! Glorious Temple of the Information Age! |journal = Fortune |date = August 7, 2006 |url = https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/07/8382587/index.htm |access-date = April 4, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150612111208/http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/07/8382587/index.htm |archive-date = June 12, 2015 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url = https://www.politico.eu/article/this-is-what-happens-when-bitcoin-miners-take-over-your-town/ |title = This is what happens when bitcoin miners take over your town |date = March 9, 2018 |work = POLITICO |access-date = March 15, 2018 |language = en-US |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180315200040/https://www.politico.eu/article/this-is-what-happens-when-bitcoin-miners-take-over-your-town/ |archive-date = March 15, 2018 |url-status = live }}</ref> Downriver of Grand Coulee, each dam's reservoir is closely regulated by the [[Bonneville Power Administration]] (BPA), the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]], and various Washington public utility districts to ensure flow, flood control, and power generation objectives are met. Increasingly, hydro-power operations are required to meet standards under the U.S. [[Endangered Species Act]] and other agreements to manage operations to minimize impacts on salmon and other fish, and some conservation and fishing groups support removing four dams on the lower Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia.<ref name="uqlpwq">{{cite news |first = Michael |last = Milstein |title = Judge Rips Latest Plan to Help Salmon |date = December 11, 2007 |work = The Oregonian }}</ref>

In 1941, the BPA hired [[Oklahoma]] folksinger [[Woody Guthrie]] to write songs for a documentary film<ref>{{cite video |year = 1949 |title = Video: The Columbia (1949) |url = https://archive.org/details/gov.fdr.353.3.4 |publisher = [[United States Department of the Interior]] |access-date = February 22, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120627204353/https://archive.org/details/gov.fdr.353.3.4 |archive-date = June 27, 2012 |url-status = live }}</ref> promoting the benefits of hydropower. In the month he spent traveling the region Guthrie wrote [[The Columbia River Collection|26 songs]], which have become an important part of the cultural history of the region.<ref>{{cite news |title = Rolling Along the Columbia, Driving for Woody Guthrie |date = July 8, 2007 |first = Spencer |last = Heinz |work = The Oregonian }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title = This Land Is Whose Land? |magazine = Time |date = July 8, 2002 |first1 = Lance |last1 = Morrow |first2 = Nathan |last2 = Thornburgh |access-date = April 4, 2008 |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002825,00.html |url-access = subscription |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071016190137/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002825,00.html |archive-date = October 16, 2007 |url-status = dead }}</ref>
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