New Opportunities to Help Save Snake/Columbia River Salmon
We have an opportunity to take a harder look at the impacts of dams on the Snake River and their impact on salmon, steelhead, and Tribal Nations.
The federal agencies (Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation) have opened a scoping process for Supplemental EIS (SEIS) to incorporate new information about the impact of dams on endangered salmon. This is part of the implementation of the Columbia Basin Salmon Agreement reached In December 2023 between federal agencies, the states of Oregon and Washington, four lower Columbia River Tribes, and a set of NGO plaintiff groups including the Sierra Club. This historic agreement provides a pause in long running litigation and provides greater certainty for regional salmon recovery activities, habitat restoration funding, lower Snake River dam service replacement planning processes, BPA dam operations to benefit fish survival, and power for homes and businesses.
The new environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the Columbia and Snake River dams should include new information that come out since the badly flawed and illegal plan and EIS that was issued in 2020. This would include the NOAA “Rebuilding Report” identified breaching the lower Snake River Dams as an “essential action” and “centerpiece” of a comprehensive Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan. And, the Nez Perce Tribe’s Quasi Extinction Analysis that shows that many Snake River salmon populations could be at the “quasi extinction threshold”. Updating the information will reinforce the need for breaching the dams and acting on an urgent timeframe. The SEIS public comment period is now open
Some Bad Legislation Introduced
But there are some that would like to take us backwards and lock in the 2020 EIS and plan that would lead to extinction of salmon and steelhead runs in the Snake River and do additional serious harm to Columbia River salmon while undermining our commitments to Tribal Nations and meeting our treaty rights responsibilities. Legislation has been introduced by Sen. Jim Risch (ID) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-4) that sabotages the Columbia Basin Salmon Agreement and many important salmon recovery action currently underway in the Columbia-Snake River Basin. This legislation was also co-sponsored by Rep. Cliff Bentz (OR-2) and others. This mis-named legislation is called the Northwest Energy Security Act. It doesn’t secure any energy but it would secure the extinction of critical endangered runs of salmon and steelhead in the Snake River. We fortunately have a much better path forward with the Columbia Basin Salmon Agreement. The agreement provides a positive path forward to restore abundant salmon and make investments to replace the services of the dams before they are removed.
The proposed legislation will lock in the harmful and illegal salmon plan produced during the first Trump Administration and it would perpetuate a costly status quo that increases risk and uncertainty for endangered salmon and for our communities.
Please call your member of Congress and Senators Merkley and Wyden and urge them to protect salmon from extinction and oppose H.R. 626/S. 182. You can contact your member of congress and senate offices by calling the Capitol Switchboard and asking for their office. The switchboard number is: (202) 224-3121.
Thank you for taking action to help our endangered salmon and steelhead.
Irene Vlach and Bill Arthur
Sierra Club Snake/Columbia River Salmon Campaign