Federal agencies consider additional environmental recommendations for Columbia River amid political uncertainty

A trio of federal agencies are considering whether to apply additional environmental guidelines for the Columbia River.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Energy Administration and Bureau of Reclamation are conducting the review under an agreement reached late last year following legal battles between regional Indigenous nations and environmental groups.

Environmental groups and tribes hope agencies will recommend removing the Snake River dams, something that seemed likely just a few years ago. But with Republicans set to control Congress and the White House in less than two months, it’s unclear what will happen.

The guidelines at the center of the debate are collectively called Environmental Impact Statement for Operations of the Columbia River System.

Despite its cumbersome, bureaucratic title, the document is important because it defines many important aspects of Columbia River management, including how much water dams use to generate hydroelectric power and how much water flows through their spillways to help juvenile salmon reach the river safely. ocean.

Federal agencies began work on the current environmental impact statement in 2016 and completed it in 2020.

The groups expected the 2020 environmental impact statement to finally resolve the conflict over four dams on the Lower Snake River. They produce about 5 percent of the region’s electricity but contribute to salmon control by preventing the endangered fish from reaching historic spawning grounds.

However, the 2020 document did not recommend their removal. Indigenous peoples and environmental groups sued.

The recent lawsuit occurred after more than three decades of legal battles over government efforts to save endangered salmonwhich environmental groups claim are inadequate.

Following the 2020 trial, the Biden administration intervened in 2021, halting this latest round to give the parties time to negotiate an agreement.

Columbia Sustainable Basin Agreementreached in 2023, suspended legal proceedings for five to 10 years. He also directed the government to review its recent environmental impact statement, conduct new studies and possibly prepare an amendment to the document that would change the government’s position on issues such as the removal of the Snake River Dam.

“We agreed to a few things to get the stay on the case,” said Tom Conning, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “And one of those things is environmental compliance.”

Such compliance may result in an additional environmental impact statement or a slightly less significant step in additional environmental assessment. Or it may lead to nothing at all.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, additional environmental impact statement required when an agency “makes significant changes to proposed actions that are relevant to its environmental concerns” or when “substantial new circumstances or information about the significance of adverse effects emerge that affect the analysis.”

In a follow-up email, Conning said the agency is reviewing the situation as it has changed since 2020, citing in particular:

• changes to 14 federal dam and reservoir projects in the Columbia River system;
• species that have since been listed under the Endangered Species Act;
• changes in Columbia River flows as a result of the pending Columbia River Treaty with Canada; And
• recently published study.

Asked whether agencies were considering removing the Snake River Dam, Conning said the dams are part of the Columbia River system, but agencies are “looking at the system as a whole, not necessarily individual projects.”

Earth Justice lawyer Amanda Goodin said her organization hopes to learn what approach the agencies are taking through a notice of intent from the trio by the end of this fall.

It is currently unclear how the January transition from the Biden administration to another Trump presidency will affect agency decision-making.

Goodin said it will likely have some effect, but the details remain to be determined.

She noted that removing the Snake River dams — coupled with significant investments in areas like Lewiston, Idaho, that would lose local revenue — would be a win for environmentalists, indigenous peoples and the region’s economy.

But Goodin added that “decision documents issued by the last Trump administration showed no interest in such a win-win solution. And in fact (they) did the right thing by dooming salmon to extinction.”

A Corps spokesman said the upcoming administration changes won’t change anything the agency does.

“At this point we don’t expect any impact at all,” he said. “At this stage, we cannot speculate on what the new administration or the next Congress might do.”

Republicans, who will control the presidency and both houses of Congress after January 2025, opposed the removal of the Snake River dam.

During his first term, the president-elect Donald Trump has demonstrated a clear preference for cutting environmental protections for fish and ecosystems, instead increasing the amount of river water available in the West for agriculture.

It’s a position he doubled down on during the campaign this summer. The Columbian newspaper reported the news last month..

The stakes of potential federal agency action couldn’t be higher—or more time-sensitive, Goodin said.

“The science has made it clear that we are in an extinction crisis and that we really need to act urgently if we don’t want to lose some of these (salmon) fisheries,” she said. “We don’t really have time for half measures. We really don’t have time for inaction.”

“And if the federal government decides not to live up to its obligations and not continue to move forward with the agreement,” she continued, “then whatever we can do to buy the fish more time will be on the table, whatever we can do to make it happen.” continued.”

Whatever the agencies decide on Snake River dam removal, Goodin acknowledged the issue will ultimately have to be decided by Congress.