BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Washington’s senior US senator says she has resecured $190 million for a fish passage and water storage project on eastern King County’s Green River.
That money and $310 million more had been zeroed out of the federal budget early last year, but Senator Patty Murray (D) says she was able to restore it via the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2026, which has now passed through the Senate and House of Representatives.
Murray blamed “political games” for the money getting sidetracked in 2025, and in a press release, her office termed the project “the most ambitious and important salmon restoration project in Western Washington – a win for Tribes, for our economy, and our environment.”
Sport anglers also fish the Green – which becomes the Duwamish in Tukwila – for Chinook, coho and other stocks.
Fish passage will help reopen connection to some 100 miles of critical salmon habitat blocked by dams on the upper Green. An adult collection facility has already been worked on at a diversion below Howard Hanson Dam, but its use has been on hold until downstream-migrating smolts can be collected in the reservoir above it.
The project is also meant to protect local communities from flooding and provide drinking water for 1 million people. Per the senator’s office, the appropriations bill includes language allowing the US Army Corps of Engineers to modify existing designs and construction contracts and puts the overall project “back on track.”
A defiant Murray also had a message for the White House. “Don’t mess with our water. Don’t mess with our fish. Just like salmon – I’m never giving up. We’re going to muscle upstream, and get this project, and win this fight.”
