Celebrate a Year of Victories

Celebrate a Year of Victories

You crushed it! As a Columbia Riverkeeper member, you supported another year of epic victories for clean water, salmon, and our climate.

Toxic Cleanup

• Legal Win Spurs Washington Port to Cut Toxic Pollution: Columbia Riverkeeper and the Port of Longview reached an agreement settling a Clean Water Act lawsuit against this major public port. In the settlement, the Port of Longview agreed to make significant changes to reduce the amount of pollution that flows off the 835-acre port and into the Columbia River.
• Court Victory Requires Weyerhaeuser to Slash Pollution: In response to a lawsuit brought by Columbia Riverkeeper, timber giant Weyerhaeuser agreed to make significant changes to reduce the amount of pollution that flows off its 260-acre facility in Longview, WA, and into the Columbia River.
• Toxic Cleanup Site Elevated to National Priority List: In a huge victory for Columbia River Tribes and all people who rely on a clean Columbia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Bradford Island and surrounding waters of the Columbia River are officially added to the nation’s Superfund list.

Climate Action

• Zenith Energy One Step Closer to Ending Oil-by-Rail: We celebrated a huge win in 2021 when the City of Portland denied a key permit for Zenith to operate its Portland, OR, oil-by-rail terminal. Zenith sued. Columbia Riverkeeper and Willamette Riverkeeper intervened in the lawsuit to defend Portland’s bold climate decision. While the case winds its way through the courts, Zenith made a big announcement in September: the company will transition its Portland facility out of crude oil storage to renewable fuels in five years. Zenith’s proposal to phase out crude oil handling is the direct result of countless hours spent by Portlanders and others to protect our communities, air, and water from the dangers of fossil fuels. Until Zenith ends oil-by-rail, our work continues.
• Fracked Gas-to-Methanol Refinery Proposal’s Demise a Big Climate Win: It took grit and perseverance, but together we did it! In 2022, we finally declared victory over the last proposal to build a massive fracked gas-to-methanol refinery in the Pacific Northwest. Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) officially abandoned its proposal to build a refinery near Clatskanie, OR, in the Columbia River estuary.
• Fracked Gas Power Plant Defeat a Victory for Our Climate: Together, we defeated a proposal to build a 415-megawatt fracked gas power plant near the Columbia River. This is a huge win for our communities and climate.

Progress for Salmon

• Lewis River Fish Passage Back on Track: The Cowlitz Tribe, Yakama Nation, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, American Rivers, and Columbia Riverkeeper joined forces to ensure a bright future for salmon and steelhead in the Lewis River, an important tributary of the Lower Columbia. The power company, PacifiCorp, was attempting to renege on its promise to build fish passage at two Lewis River dams that cut off access to important salmon spawning habitat. After our coalition brought science and legal arguments to bear, PacifiCorp agreed to work quickly to design and build adequate fish passage
• Lower Snake River Dam Removal Gains Momentum: Together, we are putting significant pressure on Northwest leaders and the Biden Administration to remove these dams, restore salmon and orcas, honor Tribal rights, and replace the dams’ services. The Biden Administration committed to charting a “durable path forward” on this issue, and leaders from the State of Washington acknowledged that Snake River dam removal is the best way to prevent extinction. We still have a long road ahead, but we are gaining momentum.