Latest news with #ResilientColumbiaBasinAgreement
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
We Had a Workable Plan to Recover the Northwest's Salmon Runs. The Trump Administration Just Shut It Down
The Trump Administration said Thursday that it will terminate the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement. The historic agreement, reached under the Biden Administration in 2023, brought together state governments, tribes, and other stakeholders to plot a path forward for the region's endangered salmon runs. As part of those efforts, the agreement opened the door to considerations around breaching the Lower Four Snake River Dams, a controversial move that many experts say is our best chance at recovering these fish. 'The survival problems of various ESA-listed salmon and steelhead species in the Columbia Basin cannot be solved without removing four dams on the Lower Snake River,' a group of 68 leading fisheries scientists wrote in a letter to policymakers in 2021, as the RCBA was first coming together. That same year, Sen. Mike Simpson of Idaho became one of the first conservative leaders in the U.S. to embrace the idea of dam breaching as a viable solution. 'These four dams must be removed to not only avoid extinction,' the scientists concluded, 'but also to restore abundant salmon runs.' Read Next: Breach or Die: It's Time to Free the Lower Snake River and Save Idaho's Wild Salmon In its June 12 memorandum, however, the Trump Administration chalked up those conclusions to 'speculative climate change concerns.' It explained that by pulling the federal government and its funding out of the RCBA, it was 'stopping radical environmentalism' and 'securing American prosperity.' In addition to fundamentally mischaracterizing the agreement itself, Thursday's announcement seemed to imply that speaking up for fish and considering alternatives to the status quo is part of a green agenda meant to harm the American public. 'President Trump continues to deliver on his promise to end the previous administration's misplaced priorities and protect the livelihoods of the American people,' the announcement reads. Conservationists and wild fish advocates are deeply disappointed by Trump's decision to axe the agreement, which also paused a series of ongoing lawsuits that have dragged on for decades, and would have contributed more than a billion dollars in federal funding to solving a big, hairy problem. They say the move sets back our country's salmon recovery efforts substantially, returning us to a zero-sum game of endless litigation that pits energy against fish. 'It was one of the first times that we had a collaborative effort where people agreed to come together — nobody's hand was forced, there wasn't a judge or a court insisting on this,' CEO and President of Trout Unlimited Chris Wood tells Outdoor Life. 'Now, we're back to the beginning — where we had been for the previous 20 years. Which is just relying on the Endangered Species Act to keep these most amazing of God's creatures from blinking out.' This is not speculation. The Columbia-Snake River system was once the most productive salmon and steelhead fishery in the world. Today, these anadromous runs are a shadow of their former selves, with wild fish returning at less than two percent of their historical abundance. As Wood notes, 'the numbers don't lie.' And although there are several factors influencing their survival in the 21st century, the most impactful barriers are the four dams on the Lower Snake River and the impoundments they've created, which impede salmon and steelhead from reaching the most productive spawning habitat in the Lower 48. 'The Snake is the last best hope for Pacific salmon,' Wood says, because of the high-quality habitat found in its high-elevation tributaries. 'These places are perfect for these fish. The problem is, they just can't get back.' The main objective of the 2023 cooperative agreement, Wood adds, was for stakeholders to work together to increase those returns. It was not a decision to breach the Lower Four Snake River Dams, nor did it support legislation to authorize dam breaching. The dams are owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and removing or redesigning them would require an act of Congress. Breaching the dams remains a deeply controversial subject, as they provide several benefits to our modern, energy-hungry society, including hydropower, barge transportation, and irrigation. The four dams together produce roughly enough electricity to power a city the size of Seattle. (Importantly, they do not provide flood control, as other dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers do.) A core component of the RCBA was to find ways to replace this energy and the other benefits before any breaching plans were even considered. 'The idea was to look at the dams and the benefits they provide,' Wood says. 'And let's ask each other: How can we make sure that the irrigators, the barge operators, the farmers, and the people who depend on the power [the dams generate] can all be made whole?' In many ways, the agreement reached in 2023 provided a road map for these difficult conversations. It established a Tribal Energy Program to help the Columbia River Treaty Tribes develop their own renewable energy sources. It provided federal guidance for replacing and/or redesigning the current irrigation and transportation systems in the Lower Snake region. And it provided the funds to make these solutions workable. Perhaps most importantly, though, it paused the Gordian knot of ongoing lawsuits around the Lower Four dams in an effort to bring stakeholders back to the negotiating table. 'So, I guess we're gonna go back to the way things used to be, which is basically, 'We'll see you in court.' And I don't see how that benefits the fish. And I definitely don't see how it benefits the social and economic interests that depend on this hydropower system.'
Hamilton Spectator
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Trump administration pulls US out of agreement to help restore salmon in the Columbia River
SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest, deriding the plan as 'radical environmentalism' that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the federal government's operation of dams in the Northwest has done to the fish. Under it, the federal government said it planned to spend more than $1 billion over a decade to help recover depleted salmon runs. The government also said that it would build enough new clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by the Lower Snake River dams — the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite — should Congress ever agree to remove them. In a statement, the White House said former President Joe Biden's decision to sign the agreement 'placed concerns about climate change above the Nation's interests in reliable energy sources.' Conservations groups, Democratic members of Congress and the Northwest tribes criticized Trump's action. 'Donald Trump doesn't know the first thing about the Northwest and our way of life — so of course, he is abruptly and unilaterally upending a historic agreement that finally put us on a path to salmon recovery, while preserving stable dam operations for growers and producers, public utilities, river users, ports and others throughout the Northwest,' Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a written statement. 'This decision is grievously wrong and couldn't be more shortsighted.' Basin was once world's greatest salmon-producing river system The Columbia River Basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world's greatest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Another iconic but endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales, also depend on the salmon. The construction of the first dams on the main Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams in the 1930s, provided jobs during the Great Depression, as well as hydropower and navigation. The dams made the town of Lewiston, Idaho, the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers in the region rely on barges to ship their crops. But the dams are also main culprit behind the salmon's decline, and fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the dams in eastern Washington on the Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia, would be the best hope for recovering them, providing the fish with access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho. The tribes, which reserved the right to fish in their usual and accustomed grounds when they ceded vast amounts of land in their 19th century treaties with the U.S., warned as far back as the late 1930s that the salmon runs could disappear, with the fish no longer able to access spawning grounds upstream. 'This agreement was designed to foster collaborative and informed resource management and energy development in the Pacific Northwest, including significant tribal energy initiatives,' Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis said in a written statement. 'The Administration's decision to terminate these commitments echoes the federal government's historic pattern of broken promises to tribes, and is contrary to President Trump's stated commitment to domestic energy development.' Republicans in region opposed agreement Northwestern Republicans in Congress had largely opposed the agreement, warning that it would hurt the region's economy, though in 2021 Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed removing the earthen berms on either side of the four Lower Snake River dams to let the river flow freely, and to spend $33 billion to replace the benefits of the dams. 'Today's action by President Trump reverses the efforts by the Biden administration and extreme environmental activists to remove the dams, which would have threatened the reliability of our power grid, raised energy prices, and decimated our ability to export grain to foreign markets,' Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington, said in a news release. Tribes, environmentalists vow to fight for salmon The tribes and the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which represents conservation, clean energy and fishing groups in litigation against the federal government, said they would continue working to rebuild salmon stocks. 'Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration,' Earthjustice Senior Attorney Amanda Goodin said. 'This administration may be giving up on our salmon, but we will keep fighting to prevent extinction and realize win-win solutions for the region.'
Toronto Star
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Trump administration pulls US out of agreement to help restore salmon in the Columbia River
SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest, deriding the plan as 'radical environmentalism' that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the federal government's operation of dams in the Northwest has done to the fish.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration pulls US out of agreement to help restore salmon in the Columbia River
SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest, deriding the plan as 'radical environmentalism' that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the federal government's operation of dams in the Northwest has done to the fish. Under it, the federal government said it planned to spend more than $1 billion over a decade to help recover depleted salmon runs. The government also said that it would build enough new clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by the Lower Snake River dams — the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite — should Congress ever agree to remove them. In a statement, the White House said former President Joe Biden's decision to sign the agreement "placed concerns about climate change above the Nation's interests in reliable energy sources.' Conservations groups, Democratic members of Congress and the Northwest tribes criticized Trump's action. 'Donald Trump doesn't know the first thing about the Northwest and our way of life — so of course, he is abruptly and unilaterally upending a historic agreement that finally put us on a path to salmon recovery, while preserving stable dam operations for growers and producers, public utilities, river users, ports and others throughout the Northwest," Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a written statement. 'This decision is grievously wrong and couldn't be more shortsighted.' Basin was once world's greatest salmon-producing river system The Columbia River Basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world's greatest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Another iconic but endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales, also depend on the salmon. The construction of the first dams on the main Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams in the 1930s, provided jobs during the Great Depression, as well as hydropower and navigation. The dams made the town of Lewiston, Idaho, the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers in the region rely on barges to ship their crops. But the dams are also main culprit behind the salmon's decline, and fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the dams in eastern Washington on the Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia, would be the best hope for recovering them, providing the fish with access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho. The tribes, which reserved the right to fish in their usual and accustomed grounds when they ceded vast amounts of land in their 19th century treaties with the U.S., warned as far back as the late 1930s that the salmon runs could disappear, with the fish no longer able to access spawning grounds upstream. 'This agreement was designed to foster collaborative and informed resource management and energy development in the Pacific Northwest, including significant tribal energy initiatives,' Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis said in a written statement. 'The Administration's decision to terminate these commitments echoes the federal government's historic pattern of broken promises to tribes, and is contrary to President Trump's stated commitment to domestic energy development.' Republicans in region opposed agreement Northwestern Republicans in Congress had largely opposed the agreement, warning that it would hurt the region's economy, though in 2021 Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed removing the earthen berms on either side of the four Lower Snake River dams to let the river flow freely, and to spend $33 billion to replace the benefits of the dams. 'Today's action by President Trump reverses the efforts by the Biden administration and extreme environmental activists to remove the dams, which would have threatened the reliability of our power grid, raised energy prices, and decimated our ability to export grain to foreign markets," Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington, said in a news release. Tribes, environmentalists vow to fight for salmon The tribes and the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which represents conservation, clean energy and fishing groups in litigation against the federal government, said they would continue working to rebuild salmon stocks. 'Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration,' Earthjustice Senior Attorney Amanda Goodin said. "This administration may be giving up on our salmon, but we will keep fighting to prevent extinction and realize win-win solutions for the region.'
Winnipeg Free Press
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump administration pulls US out of agreement to help restore salmon in the Columbia River
SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest, deriding the plan as 'radical environmentalism' that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the federal government's operation of dams in the Northwest has done to the fish. Under it, the federal government said it planned to spend more than $1 billion over a decade to help recover depleted salmon runs. The government also said that it would build enough new clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by the Lower Snake River dams — the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite — should Congress ever agree to remove them. In a statement, the White House said former President Joe Biden's decision to sign the agreement 'placed concerns about climate change above the Nation's interests in reliable energy sources.' Conservations groups, Democratic members of Congress and the Northwest tribes criticized Trump's action. 'Donald Trump doesn't know the first thing about the Northwest and our way of life — so of course, he is abruptly and unilaterally upending a historic agreement that finally put us on a path to salmon recovery, while preserving stable dam operations for growers and producers, public utilities, river users, ports and others throughout the Northwest,' Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a written statement. 'This decision is grievously wrong and couldn't be more shortsighted.' Basin was once world's greatest salmon-producing river system The Columbia River Basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world's greatest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Another iconic but endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales, also depend on the salmon. The construction of the first dams on the main Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams in the 1930s, provided jobs during the Great Depression, as well as hydropower and navigation. The dams made the town of Lewiston, Idaho, the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers in the region rely on barges to ship their crops. But the dams are also main culprit behind the salmon's decline, and fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the dams in eastern Washington on the Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia, would be the best hope for recovering them, providing the fish with access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho. The tribes, which reserved the right to fish in their usual and accustomed grounds when they ceded vast amounts of land in their 19th century treaties with the U.S., warned as far back as the late 1930s that the salmon runs could disappear, with the fish no longer able to access spawning grounds upstream. 'This agreement was designed to foster collaborative and informed resource management and energy development in the Pacific Northwest, including significant tribal energy initiatives,' Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis said in a written statement. 'The Administration's decision to terminate these commitments echoes the federal government's historic pattern of broken promises to tribes, and is contrary to President Trump's stated commitment to domestic energy development.' Republicans in region opposed agreement Northwestern Republicans in Congress had largely opposed the agreement, warning that it would hurt the region's economy, though in 2021 Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed removing the earthen berms on either side of the four Lower Snake River dams to let the river flow freely, and to spend $33 billion to replace the benefits of the dams. 'Today's action by President Trump reverses the efforts by the Biden administration and extreme environmental activists to remove the dams, which would have threatened the reliability of our power grid, raised energy prices, and decimated our ability to export grain to foreign markets,' Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington, said in a news release. Tribes, environmentalists vow to fight for salmon The tribes and the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which represents conservation, clean energy and fishing groups in litigation against the federal government, said they would continue working to rebuild salmon stocks. 'Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration,' Earthjustice Senior Attorney Amanda Goodin said. 'This administration may be giving up on our salmon, but we will keep fighting to prevent extinction and realize win-win solutions for the region.'
