Removing them would not have a large impact on the water woes downstream. It would impact other things, like wheat transportation off the Palouse, and Bonneville Power rates.
There was a situation a few years ago when the spring runoff had all the dams running at peak power production, enough to fill the grid and them some. They shut down all the windmills for a few weeks because the grid couldn't handle that much power. Normally when a company over produces something and can't sell it all, they pull in, lay off, and wait it out. Not in this case. The Bonneville Power Admin. paid the windmill owners for the power that they weren't producing. Your tax money at work.
