Last Thursday I joined a media tour of the new hatchery facility just completed by Grant County PUD. This state of the art facility is dedicated to the production of eggs and smolt for the famed fall salmon run on the Hanford Reach. This run of up river Brights is consistently the largest return of Chinook salmon to the contiguous United States and represents enormous economic benefit to the region due to the popularity of the sport fishing effort on these fish. The new hatchery complex replaces an old facility that has been in operation since 1971. The hatchery is owned by the Grant County PUD but operated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. It will produce 5.6 million salmon smolts each year. There were significant upgrades made with the new operation that make production more efficient, fish friendly and safer for those who work there. The construction cost of the hatchery was $16.42 million. The cost of the facility will easily be returned to the region through the sport fishing activity that takes place throughout the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.