Press Releases

For Immediate Release: March 26, 2013

Independent analyses challenge the economic viability and future of lower Snake River waterway

CONTACT: 
Sam Mace, Inland Northwest Project Director, Save Our wild Salmon, 509-863-5696 
Ernie Niemi, independent economist, Natural Resource Economics, 541-937-3644

Official comments submitted to the United States Army Corps of Engineers District Office in Walla Walla today demonstrate that maintenance and operations costs for the lower Snake River transportation corridor greatly exceed its economic benefits. With a growing project backlog and deepening federal deficits, these new analyses raise serious questions about the lower Snake waterway’s economic viability, and its burden to local communities and American taxpayers.

Last December, the Army Corps released a 1,500-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement proposing to dredge hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sediment in Lower Granite reservoir on the Snake River along the Idaho/Washington border. The plan quickly came under fire from local citizens who question the waterway’s underlying economics. The Corps’ $16 million document proposes to spend $39 million or more over the next 10 years.

“Waterway transportation on the lower Snake cannot be justified today”, said Sam Mace, Inland Northwest Project Director of Save Our wild Salmon. “Costs are rising, use is dropping, and taxpayers won’t continue to foot this bill. Businesses need a reliable, affordable transportation system, and we need to focus our limited resources on fiscally responsible transportation options that meet community needs and better protect endangered salmon.”

In an independent evaluation of the plan, Natural Resource Economics found that the Army Corps completely failed to substantiate its proposed expenditures and actions, or to provide a cost-benefit analysis. Rather, the available information shows that the plan “would have a negative net effect on national economic development, i.e., its costs would exceed its benefits.”

Save Our wild Salmon supports a reliable, affordable transportation network for farmers and other businesses in eastern Washington and northern Idaho based on rails and roads. “We’ll keep working with farmers and others in eastern Washington to find shared solutions that strengthen our economy, meet the needs of communities and restore endangered salmon and steelhead,” said Mace. “By hiding the economic and fiscal facts, the Army Corps is doing a disservice to the people and the economy of Lewiston/Clarkston and eastern Washington.”

Download this press release as a PDF.

Download full Coalition comments submitted to the Army Corps with economic analyses.

Download SOS supplement comments to the Army Corps.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Statement from Pat Ford, executive director                                                                                  Save Our wild Salmon Coalition

RE: Rep. Hastings’ letter to Dr. Lubchenco on NOAA’s Northwest Stakeholder Process.

February 7, 2013

On February 4, Congressman Doc Hastings sent a letter to NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, objecting to a Columbia-Snake stakeholder process NOAA has begun and asking that it not proceed. The Hastings Letter can be found here: http://hastings.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hastingsltrresalmonassessment02-04-13.pdf

Congressman Hastings is wrong to seek an end to NOAA’s stakeholder process. Other Northwest elected leaders support it as a worthwhile effort to end the deadlock on Columbia-Snake salmon that is harming people and economies. We urge Congressman Hastings to give NOAA a chance to break the pattern of failure and heal regional divisions.

Congressman Hastings says salmon populations are increasing. This is incorrect. In fact, official projections for 2013 returns of endangered salmon in the Columbia-Snake are very low for most species. This follows low returns in 2012. Further, none of the 13 Columbia-Snake stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act are anywhere near levels considered necessary for recovery.

Congressman Hastings says that stakeholder collaboration is occurring under the existing federal salmon plan. This is also incorrect. The State of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, salmon fishermen, and conservation groups have been sidelined in that federal process. NOAA’s stakeholder process offers an opportunity to repair that regional division. One thing is clear: perpetuating regional division will not work. The federal salmon plan Congressman Hastings supports has been ruled illegal three times.

The Save Our wild Salmon Coalition (SOS) supports stakeholder collaboration as our best opportunity to restore Columbia Basin salmon and salmon jobs, and provide certainty for communities and users. Our fishing, conservation and business constituencies want NOAA’s process to succeed, and will work hard to help it do so. We respectfully urge Congressman Hastings to join other Northwest leaders to support this process and help it succeed.

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CONTACT: Joseph Bogaard, deputy director, 206-286-4455, x103,

Below is a statement from Pat Ford RE: the Dec. 20 FERC ruling concerning BPA’s “environmental redispatch” policy implemented in the last 2 years during spring, affecting Columbia/Snake River salmon survival, spill levels at the federal dams, and wind energy production.

FERC’s ruling can be found here:  http://ferc.gov/whats-new/comm-meet/2012/ca12-20-12.asp

STATEMENT BY PAT FORD, SAVE OUR WILD SALMON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 208-345-9067

RE: ON THE FERC’S DECEMBER 20 RULING ON BONNEVILLE POWER’S WINDPOWER CUT-OFFS

Today’s ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) means that the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) policy on wind power cut-offs each spring must be revisited.  We want to suggest a “shared solution” approach.

Save Our wild Salmon intervened in the FERC proceeding last year because wild salmon are affected by any actions taken when Northwest dams and wind projects together produce more energy than the region needs.  In our filing, we rebutted BPA’s inaccurate claim that it had to cut off wind projects to avoid harming salmon.  But the issue now, given FERC’s ruling, is how do BPA and the Northwest create a policy that is lawful, balanced, and, to the maximum extent possible, a win-win?

Salmon fishermen and conservation groups believe shared solutions can be found if the affected parties are all involved in developing it.  Salmon recovery, clean, reliable energy and affordable power rates are compatible objectives.  Northwest people want solutions that reflect this fact.  Our members want to be part of a joint effort to find those solutions.  

Northwest people and federal agencies will not reach good solutions if we keep treating salmon, energy and economic policy as separate matters.  They are not separate.  A process that brings people together to seek solutions to the spring over-generation of energy is the best way forward.  We can develop a better policy in time for this coming spring if we start now.

NOAA Initiates New Columbia Basin Stakeholder Assessment

STATEMENT FROM PAT FORD, Executive Director, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition

December 11, 2012
 
On December 11, NOAA contacted more than 200 entities and people in the Pacific Northwest States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana identified as ‘Columbia Basin Stakeholders’ as the start of a new effort to solicit input concerning the challenges and opportunities of protecting and restoring endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.
 
“This is a critical first step toward initiating a dialogue and collaboration among Columbia-Snake Basin stakeholders. After more than a decade of illegal salmon plans and uncertainty for Northwest people, we urgently need a new approach that directly engages the region’s stakeholders to solve problems, create jobs and restore our endangered salmon and steelhead. NOAA Chief Dr. Jane Lubchenco and her Northwest staff deserve praise for making a smart decision to begin this assessment.
 
It will be important that this effort leads to a collaborative process that includes all interested parties and considers all recovery options. Direct stakeholder engagement that allows all affected interests to collaborate on shared solutions for salmon, our communities and our economy will represent a significant turning point for our region.
 
Salmon and fishing advocates look forward to participating as part of an inclusive collaborative approach in which all affected parties –fishermen, farmers, utilities, energy consumers, shippers and others – have a voice. We believe that is our best chance to forge a plan that has comprehensive buy-in because it will benefit people widely throughout the region. Given the at-risk status of more than a dozen salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia Basin today, and the challenges facing fishing communities as a result, we urge NOAA to move ahead quickly from its stakeholder assessment to a substantive regional collaboration.
 
NOAA’s initiative reflects the broad, growing support of Northwest leaders, families and businesses to bring together stakeholders to work in common cause for effective, lasting solutions in the Columbia-Snake Basin.”

Pat Ford lives in Boise, ID. He can be reached at: ; 208-345-9067

Governor Kitzhaber Supports New Approach to Salmon Restoration

Portland, OR – Today, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced his support for a new approach to salmon restoration on the Columbia-Snake Rivers, one that brings people together to resolve this issue and finds common ground in a debate that has lasted 20 years. In his op-ed published in the Oregonian online today, the Governor cites litigation success but a need to do more, sooner for Northwest salmon and jobs.

Stated Governor Kitzhaber, “By gathering the parties around a table, and working in good faith to reach common ground on a fisheries plan that is supported by sound science, we can come to the 2014 deadline with an historic agreement that ends the 20-year chapter of salmon wars in the Columbia basin, an agreement that protects fish while maintaining our supply of clean and affordable energy.”

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HR 6247 Threatens NW Economy and Environment

On August 1, Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) introduced HR 6247, full of dangerous provisions with national implications. If passed into law, this heavy-handed legislation would harm already-endangered salmon and steelhead, stifle job creation, restrict innovation and opportunity in the clean energy sector, and severely constrain the ability of federal agencies and private entities to engage in collaborative solutions to natural resource challenges. The bill was discussed yesterday at a Congressional field hearing in Pasco, WA.

Rebecca Miles, Executive Director of the Nez Perce Tribe, testified at the hearing, and stated her displeasure with HR 6247: “Simply put, H.R. 6247 runs directly counter to the hallmarks of good governance and salmon science.  This bill would do great harm to our salmon and the waters they travel and thus to Nez Perce culture and our economic viability.  It would stifle collaboration and squelch public-private partnerships, and put thousands of jobs in jeopardy. The sponsors of this legislation seem to be opposed to cost-effective, job-creating, salmon-producing, efforts to restore rivers and revitalize communities, which is just baffling.”

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