WASHINGTON — The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington celebrated Friday as they signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help restore depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.
The plan, announced in December, did not call for removing four controversial dams on the Snake River, as some environmental groups and tribal leaders have urged. But officials said it would boost clean energy production and help offset the hydropower, transportation and other benefits of the dams, if Congress ever agrees to breach them.
The plan, drawn up by the Biden administration, pauses long-running lawsuits over federal dam operations and represents the most significant step yet toward eventually taking down the four Snake River dams. The plan will strengthen tribal clean energy projects and provide other benefits to tribes and other communities that rely on the Columbia Basin for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation, the White House said.
“Since time immemorial, the power of the Yakama Nation and its people has come from the Columbia River, and from the fish, game, roots and berries it nourishes,” Yakama Nation Chairman Gerald Lewis said during a ceremony at the White House.
“The Yakama Nation will always fight to protect and restore salmon, because without them we cannot sustain the health of our people or our way of life,” Lewis said, adding that Columbia Basin salmon are dying by the consequences of human consumption. development.
“Our fishermen have empty nets and their homes have empty tables because the federal government has historically not done enough to mitigate these impacts,” he said. “We need much more clean energy, but we need to do development in a way that is socially just.”
Lewis was one of four tribal leaders who spoke at the hourlong ceremony at the White House complex, along with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and a host of federal officials.
The agreement, formally known as the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, “deserves to be celebrated,” said Jonathan W. Smith, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.
The settlement “takes into account the interests of all stakeholders in the Columbia Basin,” he said. “It outlines a pathway to restore salmon and steelhead to healthy and abundant levels and moves forward with the necessary transition to green energy in a socially just and equitable manner.”
Corinne Sams of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation called the signing ceremony a historic moment, not only for the tribes, but for the U.S. government “and all Americans in the Pacific Northwest.” My heart is big today.”
The Columbia River Basin, an area about the size of Texas, was once the world’s largest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 salmon and steelhead stocks. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Dams are a major cause of salmon declines, and federal fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the dams in eastern Washington on the Snake River, the Columbia’s largest tributary, would be the best hope to stem them to restore fish, giving the fish access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho.
Conservation groups sued the federal government more than two decades ago in an effort to save the fish. They have argued that continued operation of the dams violates the Endangered Species Act and mid-1800s treaties that guaranteed the tribes’ right to harvest fish.
No congressional Republicans who oppose the dam breach and have vowed to block it were present at Friday’s celebration.
Dams along the Columbia-Snake River system provide more than a third of all hydropower capacity in the United States, said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In Washington State, hydropower is responsible for 70% of electricity consumption.
The Snake River dams “helped transform Eastern Washington into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world,” including 40% of U.S. wheat, Rodgers said in a statement.
She denounced “secret negotiations” led by senior adviser and White House climate envoy John Podesta, saying he and other officials “worked behind closed doors with a select group of radical environmentalists to craft a secret package of actions and commitments.” develop’ that ‘promote efforts’. to remove the four Lower Snake River dams. ”
Biden officials “ignored the concerns of people living in the Pacific Northwest who would be significantly impacted if these dams were breached,” Rodgers said.
Podesta and other speakers at the White House ceremony overlooked these concerns, with few even mentioning the dams.
“President Biden understands that the Columbia River is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest because of its culture, its economy and its people,” said Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
“The historic agreement charts a new and exciting path to restore the river, provide clean energy and meet our responsibilities and obligations to tribal nations,” Mallory said. “I am confident that we will secure the vision … of securing a restored Columbia River Basin, a watershed teeming with wild fish, prosperous for tribal nations, (with) affordable clean energy, a strong agricultural economy and improved transportation and transport system. recreation system.”
