To aid salmon recovery, some people have proposed the Lower Granite Dam & hydroelectric plant on the Snake River be removed. Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson and Oregon Democrat Rep. Earl Blumenaur shared some common ground Tuesday night on the blueprint to form a new frontier for the Columbia Basin region. But the process has a long way to go. The ongoing effects of the climate crisis were not lost on the two lawmakers as they considered the basin’s future. Simpson says stakeholders in the region must work together, as change spurred by a warming planet is inevitable. “It's coming and we ought to be prepared for it,” Simpson said. “That's why we have to have this discussion now.”