White House Pulls Federal Agencies Out Of Columbia River Deal

The federal government is pulling out of a deal that paused a long-running court case over Columbia River hydropower operations and their impacts on listed salmon and steelhead stocks and which might have led to the breaching of four dams on the lower Snake River.

The White House announced this afternoon it was directing the heads of four departments – Energy, Interior, Commerce and the Corps of Engineers – to withdraw from what’s known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, signed with the states of Washington and Oregon and the Yakama, Nez Perce, Warm Springs and Umatilla Tribes in December 2023.

Filed under “Stopping radical environmentalism” and with a focus on energy production, a memo accompanying the announcement states that breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite would eliminate 3,000 megawatts of hydro capacity, sever a shipping channel that makes Lewiston, Idaho, a sea port, and impact irrigation and recreation.

The effort has long been championed by Idaho US Representative Mike Simpson (R) and the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association for both what it promised in terms of reinvigorating fish runs for harvest by recreational and tribal fishermen and the unique approach that would have benefited many by replacing the services the dams provided.

“Aiming a wrecking ball at our regional icon of economic, cultural and environmental well-being was not unexpected from this president,” said Liz Hamilton, NSIA policy director. “What he will never undo is the bipartisan support for salmon recovery and this region’s resolve to secure a future that will include harvestable abundance and a more resilient energy future. Salmon mean too much to the tribes, our families, our jobs, the orca and our identity. The lords of yesterday will never win this one.”

The four Snake dams and other ones downstream account for the highest source of mortality for wild spring Chinook smolts, more than 40 percent, about as much as from predators such as other fish species such as walleye, piscivorous birds, and sea lions and seals, ocean and in-river fisheries, and loss of adults in the hydropower combined. The fewer wild fish, the stricter fishery restrictions.

Washington US Senator Patty Murray (D) said the administration’s move was “grievously wrong and couldn’t be more shortsighted.”

“The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was the result of years of painstaking work—this was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernize infrastructure across the Columbia River Basin, support reliable clean energy, and save imperiled salmon and steelhead runs. The Trump administration’s senseless decision to tear it up is a betrayal of our Tribes and a tremendous setback for the entire Northwest,” Murray said in a statement.

On the flip side, Washington Representative Dan Newhouse (R), a dam proponent, commended the news: “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. I want to thank the President for his decisive action to protect our dams, and I look forward to continuing to work with the administration for the benefit of the Fourth District.” 

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association also cheered the day’s developments.

“Hydroelectric power is the reason the lights stay on in the region. And as demand for electricity surges across the nation, preserving access to always-available energy resources like hydropower is absolutely crucial. We appreciate the administration’s continuing commitment to smart energy policies and unleashing American energy,” said organization CEO Jim Matheson.

The White House today also revoked a September 2023 order from the Biden Administration supporting the restoration of native fish in the Columbia Basin, critical for not only the sportfishing industry but tribal nations as well.

In response to today’s headlines, the Nez Perce Tribe tweeted that it had a duty to speak out for salmon.

“And the truth is that extinction of salmon populations is happening now,” stated Chair Shannon Wheeler. “People across the Northwest know this, and people across the nation have supported us in a vision for preventing salmon extinction that would at the same time create a stronger and better future for the Northwest. This remains the shared vision of the states of Washington and Oregon, and the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Nez Perce tribes, as set out in our Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative. It is a vision we believe is supported, publicly or privately, by most people in the Northwest. And it is a vision underlaid by the treaties of our Northwest tribes, by the U.S. Constitution that protects those treaties, and by the federal statutes enacted by Congress to protect salmon and other species from extinction.”  

And Yakama Tribal Council Chair Gerald Lewis said his nation was “deeply disappointed” with the “unilateral decision” to end the agreement, “particularly without prior consultation,”

Trout Unlimited was among the groups making its displeasure known.

“We must not overlook the gravity of this moment. Wild Snake River salmon and steelhead need advocates now more than ever. Tribal Nations have called for the removal of the lower Snake River dams as a matter of justice and treaty responsibility. Recreational anglers—who contribute hundreds of millions of dollars annually to local economies—are watching runs collapse and seasons shorten. Rural communities, who once depended on vibrant fisheries, face both economic and cultural losses with each passing year,” the organization said in a press release.

One thing’s for sure: This story is far from done, especially now that the 10-year pause on the federal court case would appear to be in tatters.

Vowed Earthjustice, which has represented the plaintiffs in US District Court in Portland, “While the administration’s decision to abandon the agreement continues its pattern of breaking promises, ignoring science, and devaluing our iconic lands and wildlife, the fight for Columbia Basin salmon is far from over. Earthjustice and the conservation, fishing, and clean energy groups it represents will continue to use all available tools to prevent extinction and advocate for rebuilding healthy and abundant salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin.”

“I’m hoping that we avoid dam operations by injunction, because that doesn’t help anybody in the region,” Scott Simms of the Public Power Council, which reps electrical utilities that buy power generated by the Columbia-Snake dams, told OPB.