By Jesse Piedfort, Washington State Sierra Club Director
This year’s Washington State legislative session has been an important one for orca and salmon recovery. Here’s a quick status update on what Sierra Club has been working on in Olympia, what isn’t quite done yet as session wraps up, and what’s next for our work to remove the Snake River dams.
Big Wins!
Protecting Near-Shore Habitat: HB 1579 modernizes the regulatory structure around hydraulic permit approvals, or HPAs. This will help ensure that construction of docks, seawalls, and bulkheads don’t harm to the habitat for the small fish that salmon rely on for food.
Preventing Oil Spills: HB 1578 requires tug boat escorts for vessels carrying crude oil in the waters near the San Juan Islands, reducing the risk of a catastrophic oil spill that would devastate marine life.
Still Waiting
Columbia/Snake River Budget Items: Thousands of Sierra Club members have issued comments supporting two Orca Task Force recommendations: a stakeholder forum to discuss Snake River dam removal, and increased spill over dams to help out-migrating juvenile salmon. Thanks for making your voices heard! As of right now, we’re still waiting to hear the outcome of budget negotiations in the legislature.
Culverts: The state legislature is under court order to find funding to replace culverts that block fish passage to more than 1,000 miles of prime inland spawning habitat. But it’s still unclear how the legislature plans to pay.
Suction Dredge Mining: We’ve been working hard to prevent this destructive mining practice in critical habitat for endangered salmon. SB 5322 passed the Senate with bipartisan support, but hasn’t yet received a vote in the House.
What’s Next for the Snake River Campaign
Recovery of salmon runs in the Columbia and Snake River systems represents the biggest opportunity for increasing salmon returns on the West Coast. Since our Southern Resident orcas migrate south to feed on salmon near the Columbia River each year, this is an important component of our orca recovery strategy.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC) updates their regional fish and wildlife plan every five years. This plan, which sets priorities for the Bonneville Power Administration’s investment in salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin, is scheduled for update in 2019 and must be finalized by the end of the year. This is an important opportunity to push for stronger recovery standards for salmon runs and to advocate for removing the four lower Snake River dams.
The draft plan is scheduled for release in July 2019 with public hearings and comment period in August and September. If you’d like to stay up to date about opportunities to turn out for orca and salmon, please let us know!