The dams are hugely beneficial to society. The produce energy and expedite inland commerce, and that makes us all better off. At the same time everything comes at a cost, and the costs are easily just as catastrophic.
I've seen rivers three times the size of the Columbia that have no dams. They are like the arteries of the Earth. They wend and breathe through existence itself. Heave and fall feet in hours. To see this, to be near it is to feel everything upstream. It's like looking into the night sky, but instead of making you feel small it connects you.
The Columbia is dead. I get itchy about it because we've lost that and no one even knows anymore. We long ago muted a voice that used to sing to us, but people will only consider the loss in economic terms - salmon fisheries. We can't even talk about things like humans anymore.
And you haven't even mentioned the Hanford Nuclear Reservation yet.
I volunteered at Audubon's WetNet (Wetlands Conservation Network) for most of the 90s. Their mission was to save the salmon from going extinct. So doing stuff like saving habitat (waterways, wetlands, shorelines, etc), keeping water cooler, opposing new fisheries (the final nail in the coffin for wild runs), etc.
People just don't get how bad things have become.
When GWB was selected President, I just couldn't continue.
Hydo, Wind, Solar, and yes, Nuke, probably all are needed to overcome this challenge. Until some perfect thing comes along, fusion or whatever, we will ned to make decisions between the various imperfect options.
Fusion won’t be perfect. It will also require resources, and generate waste. The truth is that you cannot have something from nothing and any energy extraction system will need materials (metals, rare earths, concrete) and change land use patterns.