Win for Cold Water

Washington Dept. of Ecology tells Army Corps to work harder to find solutions to heat pollution from dams.

Thank you, Washington, for still standing up for cold water and salmon!

By: Miles Johnson, Legal Director

Reservoirs on the Lower Snake and Columbia rivers trap the sun’s heat, making the water too hot for salmon. For over a decade, Columbia Riverkeeper and our allies have been using science and the Clean Water Act to ratchet up pressure on the federal government to reduce heat pollution caused by its dams.

One tool under the Clean Water Act for reducing heat pollution is called a Water Quality Attainment Plan. These plans should identify and evaluate the structural and operation changes at dams needed to to reduce heat pollution and keep the river cool enough for fish. As a condition of their Clean Water Act permits, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation are required to prepare and submit Water Quality Attainment Plans for the dams on the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers. The ultimate goal of these plans is to meet the temperature reduction target for dams created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as a result of Columbia Riverkeeper’s litigation.

What just happened: The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) rejected—again—the Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation’s proposed Water Quality Attainment Plans for Columbia and Lower Snake river reservoirs. As explained in the letter disapproving the Army Corps’ plan for the Lower Snake River dams, the Army Corps’ plan ignored and prematurely eliminated several potential temperature reduction measures. Ecology’s rejection letters identify specific problems for the Army Corps to fix in order to bring these plans into compliance with the law.

Simultaneously, Ecology has committed to conduct a system-wide analysis of temperature, in partnership with EPA and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. This project will utilize EPA’s computer model and look at ways to operate the dams in a coordinated manner to achieve the best outcomes for temperature and fish. We strongly support this effort to find solutions to the hot water crisis!

How did we get here? A quick timeline:

2014: Columbia Riverkeeper sues the Corps for discharging oil and heat pollution into the Lower Snake River without Clean Water Act Permits.
2015: 96 percent of adult endangered Snake River sockeye salmon die because of hot water in the Lower Snake and Columbia rivers. Major temperature-related fish kills occur in the summers of 2013, 2021, and 2023.
2016: Columbia Riverkeeper and allies sue under the Clean Water Act to require EPA to create a pollution budget (called a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis, or TMDL) for heat pollution in the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers.
2017: Columbia Riverkeeper uses computer modeling to show that, without the dams, the Lower Snake River would be cool enough for salmon to migrate safely.
2019: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sides with Columbia Riverkeeper and allies, and orders EPA to write a temperature TMDL for the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers.
2021: EPA releases a final temperature TMDL for the Lower Snake and Columbia rivers. The TMDL identifies the dams and reservoirs as major sources of heat pollution, and sets numeric temperature reduction targets for each dam.
2022: As a result of Columbia Riverkeeper’s original suit against the Corps, EPA finally issues Clean Water Act discharge permits for the Corps’ Lower Snake River dams. These permits require the Corps to make a plan (called a Water Quality Attainment Plan) to achieve the temperature reductions mandated by the TMDL.
2024: Ecology rejects the Army Corps’ first Water Quality Attainment Plan, which proposed no new measures to reduce temperature. Ecology required the Army Corps to produce better Water Quality Attainment Plans, with input from States, Tribes, and the EPA.
2026: The Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation submit new Water Quality Attainment Plans for Columbia and Lower Snake river dams. Ecology rejects these plans—again—for failing to analyze all potential solutions to the dams’ heat pollution and follow other regulatory requirements.

What’s next?

The Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation must keep studying ways to prevent the dams and reservoirs from heating up the Lower Snake River to levels that kill endangered salmon. The federal agencies have until September 7, 2026, to develop a plan for revising the plans that Ecology just rejected.

As part of the effort to find system-wide solutions to the temperature problem, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality are both developing large scale temperature reduction plans that apply to federal dams on the Columbia and Lower Snake. Those plans will be released for public comment later this summer or fall; stay tuned for more information about how to make your voice heard and let these states know you support their work to reduce heat pollution from dams to protect cool, clean water!

Thank you!

Thank you to Ecology and the State of Washington for continuing to stick up for abundant salmon and clean, cool water! Important decisions like this require dedication to detail, courage, and vision.