Return to Court over Columbia/Snake River Dams
By: Miles Johnson
Standing together for the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement
In June, the Trump administration withdrew the federal government from the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement: a landmark deal to restore Columbia River Basin fisheries, invest in tribal clean energy projects, and plan for breaching of the four lower Snake River dams.
It should come as no surprise that we’re fighting back.
Columbia Riverkeeper is among conservation, fishing, and clean energy groups represented by Earthjustice, who filed a preliminary injunction request with a federal court in Oregon seeking emergency measures to protect endangered salmon and steelhead from harms caused by lower Snake and Columbia River dam operations.
In a remarkable show of unity, the State of Oregon filed a similar request, while the Nez Perce Tribe and the State of Washington plan to file briefs supporting the requested relief.
The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, signed in December 2023, was indeed historic. In the words of Senator Patty Murray: “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.”
This agreement had paused litigation by Columbia Riverkeeper and others over the federal government’s illegal management of dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Now, we return to the courtroom to renew legal arguments about the amount of “spill” and other dam operations legally required to protect endangered salmon.
These incremental measures are important to avoiding further extinctions of Columbia River basin salmon, but will not provide the kind of healthy and abundant fisheries that river communities deserve and Tribal Treaties promise—that will require large-scale restoration efforts like Lower Snake River dam removal.
When the Trump administration withdrew from the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, we knew that our return to court was inevitable. Tell your Senators and Representatives not to turn back the clock on salmon recovery or undermine progress by States and Tribes.
Resources:
- Columbia Riverkeeper and Other NGO Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (see PDF page 9 for description of emergency hydropower operations requested).
- Earthjustice Press Release
