Originally published in Columbia Riverkeeper “Currents” Issue 1, 2026
To the energy industry, the Columbia River is a convenient fossil-fuel highway, an electricity-generating workhorse, and a cheap energy source.
By: Lauren Goldberg, Executive Director
Columbia Riverkeeper has a different vision: a river that unites people for clean water, abundant fish and wildlife, and our climate. We advance our vision in partnership with multiple Tribal Nations and people living in urban and rural communities who are most directly impacted by energy development, threats to clean water, and food sources reliant on the Columbia and its tributaries.
This energy vision:
- Advocates for energy conservation and efficiency over new generation as a response to load growth.
- Prioritizes truly renewable and carbon neutral power, not produced using fossil fuels or nuclear reactors;
- Honors Tribal sovereignty and shifts the negative externalities of existing energy production and transmission away from Tribes and frontline communities;
- Accommodates river restoration (including Lower Snake River dam removal) and river operations necessary to support healthy and harvestable fish populations;
- Allows native fish and wildlife populations to persist and recover in abundance to support robust traditional uses, including Tribal, sport, and commercial salmon fishing;
- Accounts for the needs of low-income households and does not shift on to ratepayers the cost of generation or transmission to serve large industrial loads like data centers; and
- Advocates for energy conservation and efficiency over new generation as a response to load growth.
Photo: Yakama Nation Tribal Councilman Jeremy Takala visiting the area near the sacred site of Pushpum where a pumped storage development is proposed. Over 300 people attended a day-long event in May 2026 celebrating Pushpum. Photo by Paloma Ayala.
“We’re letting them know that we’re still against this project.” – Jeremy Takala, Yakama Nation Tribal Councilman
In this issue of Currents, we dig into a handful of the ways you advance this vision as a Columbia Riverkeeper supporter. We also share reflections from the people who power our work as donors and volunteers. This includes new board members: Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Tribal Court Judge Anita Jackson and Gorge-based business owner Jodie Gates.
“The scope of Columbia Riverkeeper’s work touches so many aspects of my life—as a parent wanting to protect this essential resource for my children to enjoy and utilize, as a community member concerned with the watershed’s overall health, and as a business owner whose livelihood relies on clean water in the Columbia,” shares Gates.
Judge Jackson reflects, “Columbia Riverkeeper’s daily actions, including taking legal actions to protect the River and its resources, give me hope for the future of the River and my People’s way of life, especially since my People were placed on the Columbia River by the Creator since time immemorial, and my ancestors had the foresight to ensure that all future generations would be able to continue those ties to our ancestral lands.”
Together, we inspire people to rise up for environmental and climate justice on the Columbia. You power this critical work.
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