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SEPTEMBER 22, 2000

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer today reports that Senator Slade Gorton (R-Wash) is wrongly attributing quotes about dam breaching to Vice President Al Gore.

On Thursday, Gorton said a document on Gore's campaign site proved that he endorsed breaching four dams on the Snake River. Gorton is vehemently opposed to breaching, although tribal leaders and environmental groups support it.

But the Post-Intelligencer says that Gorton has read the document wrong. The words Gorton attributes to Gore actually come from an environmental group, says the paper.

The Gore campaign and the environmental group, Friends of the Earth, confirmed that Gore never made such statement and that the document appears on the site because the group submitted it as a questionnaire to Gore. Gore has not expressed a position on the issue.

Friends of the Earth endorsed Gore on September 5.

When asked about the issue by the paper, a spokesman for Gorton said the Senator defends his reading of the document. Earlier in the day, Gorton was able to insert a rider into the Year 2001 Department of Interior Appropriations Act that would prohibit the government from conducting any studies on the impact and logistics of removing dams.

Get the Story:
Al Gore Accepts Friends Of The Earth Endorsement (Al Gore 9/5)
Gorton wrongly attributes anti-dam sentiment to Gore (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 9/22)

Relevant Links:
Friends of the Earth - www.foe.org
The Columbia & Snake Rivers Campaign - www.removedams.org
Al Gore, 2000 - www.algore2000.com

Related Stories:
Tribe-endorsed candidate to face Gorton (The Talking Circle 09/20)
Dam breaching supported (Enviro 09/13)
Gorton targeted by candidates (The Talking Circle 09/11)
Candidate's salmon plan criticized (Enviro 9/8)
Candidate supports end of tribal fishing (Enviro 9/7)
Salmon plan criticized (Enviro 07/28)
States urge tribes to accept salmon plan (Enviro 7/26)
Dam breaching on hold (Enviro 7/20)
Racial tensions build over dams (The Talking Circle 04/14)
Treaty rights heat up (Tribal Law 04/14)