Opinion

The Trump administration’s action forces a return of litigation, but pact’s partners can still act.

Endangered sockeye salmon in Redfish Lake 900 miles inland and 6500 feet above sea level. © Emily Nuchols/SOS

Saturday, October 18, 2025
By Joseph Bogaard / For The Herald

Imagine a win-win-win solution to linked challenges that have dogged our Northwest home for decades: endangered salmon and steelhead, aging and inadequate energy infrastructure and broken promises to Tribal nations.

Our region was on the cusp of making real progress toward a comprehensive and collaborative solution to these intertwined challenges with the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, the historic accord announced in 2023 by the Biden administration and an alliance of four Columbia Basin Tribes and the states of Washington and Oregon. The region was finally on course to restore imperiled native fish, invest in a clean energy transition and make good on our nation’s treaty promises to Northwest Tribes.

Then in June, the Trump administration abruptly axed the agreement, leaving the Northwest with no plan and no path as we face a rapidly escalating crisis.

Fish biologists continue to sound the alarm: Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead runs are collapsing, and if we lose them, we lose so much more than a fish. Salmon swim through the heart of our Northwest identity. They are foundational to countless communities, people’s livelihoods and the ecosystem we all depend on. Rebuilding salmon abundance is central to making good on the promises our nation made long ago to our region’s original stewards. The economic, environmental and moral implications of losing this emblematic fish cannot be overstated.

This is why extinction is not an option. And this is why the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition supports the states, Tribes and conservation and fishing groups that recently restarted litigation to correct the federal government’s illegal dam and reservoir operations.

At the heart of this litigation are four federal dams on Washington state’s lower Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia. These dams have choked the river, warming its water to fatal temperatures for cold-water fish and fostering deadly toxic algal-blooms. Meanwhile, the dams produce less than 4 percent of the region’s energy that can be affordably and feasibly replaced.

Those who are pushing hard to keep the dams are also pushing a massive misinformation campaign about soaring salmon numbers and the outsize role these dams play in our region’s energy mix.

Let’s start with the fish. Since these dams were built, four of the 16 fish runs that historically returned to spawn above Bonneville Dam are now extinct, and seven more are officially listed as endangered or threatened, including all four populations that return to the Snake River.

Restarting litigation is our only hope for meeting the immediate survival needs of these imperiled fish. But they need more than emergency measures. Salmon need a healthy, resilient river. As National and Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries department made clear in its 2022 report, recovery efforts will continue to falter as long as the lower Snake River dams remain. These dams are the single largest source of human-caused fish mortality, and we need “bold, science-based action,” as NOAA put it, fast. To delay action any longer will lead us to a future without Columbia River salmon runs.

Now for energy. At the intersection of recovery is the tremendous opportunity to develop truly clean energy; a mix of solar, wind, battery and new technologies that can power our region’s future.

Backward-looking defenders of the status quo would like us to believe that these four Snake River dams are the backbone of our power supply. This is wishful thinking, at best, given the region’s rising energy demand, driven by the proliferation of data centers and expanded electrification of our economy. You might as well hope a flashlight will illuminate the Seattle skyline. From 2023 to 2028, the Pacific Northwest will see a load increase of 20 percent, and then 30 percent in the next decade, triple the prediction of just a few years ago.

We need to be clear-eyed about our region’s real energy needs, and we need to work together and think big.

Let’s also consider the real price tag of keeping these four outdated dams. To date, we’ve spent more than $24 billion on salmon programs in the Columbia Basin, but we have yet to recover even one imperiled population. The Bonneville Power Administration now spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on recovery programs and dam operations that are supposed to protect migrating salmon and steelhead from extinction, and these costs are expected to rise by more than 10 percent over the next three years. But BPA’s programs have consistently failed our fish and our communities. We desperately need a new approach.

This crisis has been decades in the making, but it opens the door today to an historic opportunity and to solutions well within our grasp. While the Trump administration may have turned its back on the Northwest, our region’s Tribes, policymakers and people can continue our work together on shared solutions that both rebuild salmon abundance and invest in our clean and affordable energy future.

Joseph Bogaard is executive director of Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition.

Everett Herald: Comment: Scuttling Columbia Basin pact ignores peril to salmon

By Darryll Olsen
October 7, 2025

On June 12, 2025, the Trump administration issued a presidential memorandum directing all federal agencies to rescind involvement in the commitments and responsibilities stated in the 2024 lower Snake River (LSR) litigation settlement agreement, signed with the state of Oregon, Earthjustice, and several key Native American tribes like the Nez Perce. Although the agreement stayed litigation, requiring further river operations review, administration provocation was praised by some river system and regional power interests.

Being a defendant-intervener, the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA) joined the plaintiffs and defendants supporting the 2024 agreement, then formally ordered by U.S. District Judge Michael Simon of Oregon (Clearing Up No. 2144). Over the course of five to 10 years, regional review of LSR dam breaching criteria and other fish mitigation actions would be assessed. A breach decision may have, or may not have, emerged thereafter.

No Secret Treaties

Some industry groups have wrapped themselves with propagandistic robes, crying out that they were not appreciably included in the settlement agreement process. Like the CSRIA, they were offered every opportunity to convey their positions, or state alternatives, during multiple mediation sessions (Clearing Up No. 2137). In denying this fact, they turn truth around backwards. The court accepted the plaintiffs' and defendants' mediation decision. That is how litigation works. That is how LSR dam breaching was placed on hold.

But apparently, this fuels a false sense of righteousness to plunge the region back into litigation.

What Were They Thinking?

Searching for a rational, or meaningful, justification for inflaming another episode of dam breaching litigation is roughly akin to Diogenes looking for the last honest man.

Were they thinking that Judge Simon would not become like a scorned Fallen Angel, ready to cast the hydro agencies and river industries into economic Hell? Did they ignore the plaintiffs' earlier preliminary injunction proposal that would impose irrigation-power system costs greater than actual LSR dam breaching (Clearing Up No. 2013)? Did they think the tribes would ignore U.S. Department of Justice lawyers shredding the Stevens Treaties?

Not? Working Toward a Solution?

To suggest that the plaintiffs are not willing to "work with" the hydro agencies and river industries, after being forced into new litigation, is pure hypocrisy. The court-ordered litigation stay was the "working together" period. Those now pushing the Trump administration to break the peace ignored any semblance of regional cooperation already in place and the presence of sustainable grace.

True Believers Confront Reality?

There is no shortage of feigned indignation and self-righteousness these days, the region, and nation seem to thrive on it. Even so, the CSRIA is more interested in securing a long-term commitment with the plaintiffs-for LSR hydro operations-than using self-affirming righteousness to provoke conflict. The CSRIA leadership will continue to listen to the plaintiffs, and perhaps they will even listen to us.

Darryll Olsen is board representative for the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association.

NewsData: Guest Column: The Righteous Shall Prevail, or Perhaps Fail?

By Stephen Pfeiffer, Abbie Abramovich and Lisa Young
October 6, 2025

Conservation and fishing groups, including Idaho Rivers United, Idaho Conservation League and the Sierra Club, alongside the states of Oregon and Washington and four tribes, have asked a judge to lift a pause on litigation in order to hold the federal government accountable for failing to protect the bottom line and long-term future for imperiled salmon and steelhead populations here in Idaho and across the Columbia Basin.

After several years of collaboration, a landmark 2023 agreement between the aforementioned entities and the federal government, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, had put in place this long-term litigation pause surrounding salmon. This agreement outlined a state-tribal-federal partnership effort with a commitment of hundreds of millions of federal dollars to recover fish and develop clean energy across the region. This included studying and investing in replacement services for the four Lower Snake River dams, and moving beyond a costly status quo that has been effectively managing salmon runs towards extinction.

The Trump administration abruptly exited this partnership in June and offered no replacement salmon recovery plan. This left the region locked back into the same outdated infrastructure and hydro operations that have been failing fish and Idaho communities that rely on salmon runs for decades. It also left our groups, and state and tribal partners, no choice but to renew litigation over the lack of meaningful federal action to honor treaty rights and recover salmon.

For Idaho’s Snake River salmon that primarily spawn in the Salmon and Clearwater basins, the return to business as usual operations along the hydrosystem of eight federal dams and reservoirs between Idaho and the ocean is a particularly stark failure.

Our state does not lack high-quality fish habitat. The thousands of clean, cold river miles in central Idaho wilderness make up the best remaining salmon habitat in the lower-48, now and into a warmer future.

This area is still capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of salmon and steelhead. We know this because it has occurred as recently as the 1950s, immediately before the four Lower Snake River dams were installed.

Decades of science from fisheries managers point towards removing these four dams and boosting salmon survival during their migrations as the effective recovery lever we can pull for Idaho salmon. The return on investment would be massive, thanks to the ready-made salmon habitat upstream waiting to be filled with fish.

Why continue to invest in a system that we know is broken? Idaho could and should be a leader in following the best science and pushing the region beyond an outdated system that has worked for some but placed hardship on salmon communities. We can support our families and communities with strong agriculture, reliable energy and abundant salmon — but only if we do things differently.

Our region deserves better. We will continue to push for the removal of these deadbeat dams and the necessary investments to not only replace their services, but also expand them while allowing these iconic species to flourish.

Stephen Pfeiffer is the wild fish and hydropower manager for Idaho Rivers United. Abbie Abramovich is the salmon program senior associate at the Idaho Conservation League. Lisa Young is the director of the Idaho Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Idaho Statesman: Opinion: Snake River salmon lawsuits were on hold. Now we have to resume

By The Columbian
September 16, 2025

The drawbacks to a Trump administration decision regarding salmon recovery are becoming clear. To summarize, the shortsighted policy has negative long-term impacts.

As media outlet Washington State Standard reported last week: “Northwest states, tribes and environmental groups are moving to restart litigation against the federal government over its hydroelectric dam operations in the Columbia River Basin that have harmed endangered native fish species.”

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said: “The federal government has put salmon and steelhead on the brink of extinction and once again broken promises to tribal partners. Extinction is not an option. Oregon will return to court to hold the federal government accountable and ensure these iconic fish runs have a future.” A spokesman for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said our state is not a plaintiff in the case but has filed a brief in support of the plaintiffs.

For decades, salmon runs have been declining throughout the Columbia River Basin. Billions of dollars in recovery efforts have seen mixed success, and years of court battles have slowed the development of a consensus about how to best approach the issue.

In 2023, the Biden administration forged a $1 billion agreement with multiple stakeholders for working toward salmon recovery. The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement included a provision to halt any existing lawsuits. The plan did not call for the breaching of four hydroelectric dams along the lower Snake River in Washington, but it did create a pathway toward removal.

In June of this year, however, the Trump administration withdrew from that agreement. The move halted potential progress; more important, it opened a door for the resumption of lawsuits.

In the process, the decision highlighted the capricious nature of the federal government under Trump. A “fact sheet” issued by the White House at the time heralded the decision for “stopping radical environmentalism” and “putting America first” — empty buzzwords that are the hallmark of Trump’s management. There is nothing radical about working to save salmon, which for millennia have been a cultural and economic cornerstone of the Northwest.

At the same time, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed that removal of the Snake River dams would cost the region more than 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric generating capacity, demonstrating that the administration rarely is encumbered by facts. The average yearly output of the dams is approximately one-third of that.

But that is not the largest concern. As The Columbian wrote editorially: “The biggest shortcoming of the action is that it offers no solutions. It simply rejects an agreement, forged between multiple stakeholders, without offering a path forward for generating power, providing irrigation, enhancing river transportation and improving accessibility for salmon.”

The decision to withdraw from the agreement appears to be driven solely by desires to undermine any progress that could be associated with Joe Biden’s presidency. There are good arguments for maintaining the lower Snake River dams and the hydropower and benefits they provide. There also are good reasons for breaching the dams in an effort to improve salmon runs and, by extension, the orca population that relies on salmon for sustenance.

But rather than consider those issues and offer possible avenues for moving forward, the Trump administration simply threw the process into reverse. A resumption of lawsuits is an inevitable — and costly — result of that ill-conceived policy.

The Columbian: In Our View: Salmon policy ill-conceived, puts process in reverse

Salmon Columbia River © Dave McCoy

By Liz Hamilton For The Oregonian/OregonLive
Sep. 15, 2025

Hamilton is policy director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, which is one of the coalition organizations advocating for salmon and steelhead restoration.

Last week, a coalition of conservation, fishing and clean energy groups, along with the states of Oregon and Washington and four Lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes, requested that a federal judge in Oregon lift a stay of long-running litigation to protect Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead.

Yes, this 30-plus year-old legal battle over how to save imperiled wild salmon and steelhead is back on.

We’re not relishing returning to court, but unfortunately, it’s what we must do after the Trump administration in June unilaterally and abruptly withdrew from the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement. That win-win agreement, reached in 2023, was starting to implement a comprehensive plan to not only restore salmon and steelhead within the Columbia Basin but to also address our region’s energy needs, which are fed in part by the dams that have strangled salmon populations. The pact called for investing more than $1 billion of federal funding for habitat restoration, tribally-led clean energy projects and planning to replace services, like irrigation and transportation, provided by the four lower Snake River dams.

But with that agreement now torn up by the Trump administration, we must use every tool at our disposal to keep fighting for these iconic fish that are intertwined with our health and well-being, economy, promises to tribes and our ways of life.

In addition to our request to lift the stay, we also plan to ask the court next month to order the federal agencies that manage the federal Columbia Basin dams to make immediate changes to their operations to prevent salmon extinction.

It’s too soon to talk precisely about the relief we’re seeking, and whether others might join us. But we’ve previously requested — and were granted — measures like requiring dam operators to increase how much water is spilled over the dams.

Because the federal government has never come up with an adequate plan to mitigate or prevent the harm the federal dams within the Columbia Basin cause to listed salmon species, we keep returning to court — and winning. Over the history of litigation that spans three decades, three different federal district court judges have declared six different federal dam management plans illegal.

The most recent dam management plan — the 2020 plan — is no better. It continues this pattern of failure by putting the needs of endangered salmon last. We challenged that plan in 2021 — but paused that litigation when we entered into the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement in 2023.

Years of work went into developing that agreement, but the blueprint that underpins it, is still in place. The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative was developed by the states of Oregon and Washington and four lower Columbia treaty tribes — the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Nez Perce Tribe. And it continues to guide our actions today and for the future. Even with Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement, the parties involved in the effort continue to work together on short-term goals as well as long-range planning for future opportunities.

Don’t forget that the governors of Oregon and Washington in 2024 both signed executive orders pledging to take all actions necessary, in cooperation with the tribes, to fulfill commitments to the restoration initiative. In Oregon, this includes monthly cabinet meetings to address coordination of salmon recovery efforts.

The states, tribes and non-governmental organizations are working together to prioritize federal funding requests to restore the Columbia Basin and make the most of limited federal funding that is still available. We’re also engaging in fish and energy planning processes with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to ensure restoring fisheries remains a top priority for the Council, which is responsible for developing plans that balance both energy and fish and wildlife in the Columbia Basin.

Essentially, we’re continuing with the parts of the agreement that we can, even without federal support. That includes completing studies on how to update and modernize the irrigation and transportation services provided by the four lower Snake River dams in the event Congress authorizes their removal. We also hope to finish a study on the economic benefits of recreation opportunities created by a free-flowing river.

Without federal support, it’s less likely we can continue a study on how to replace the energy now provided by the dams, but experts are working on ideas for that too. Breaching the four lower Snake River dams remains a key centerpiece action needed for wild salmon and steelhead recovery — and we can continue planning and working toward that vision even now.

Though we’re returning to court, we aren’t giving up on these comprehensive plans for Columbia Restoration that solve multiple problems simultaneously and make common sense for the region. Fortunately, we have strong regional leadership from our states, Pacific Northwest tribes and many others — who also won’t let that happen.

We won’t give up on these fish — and no one else should either.

The Oregonian Opinion: Back to court, but our regional work to protect salmon will continue

I was down by Granite Point on the Lower Granite reservoir where I and many Washington State University and University of Idaho students did or usually go swimming and it is full of toxic algae, this is in line with the other reservoirs along the Upper and Lower Snake River. Signs say don’t go in the water, eat the fish, let your animals in the water. What about all the wildlife that drink the reservoir water? How is that affecting their health?

This issue continues to push the only solution to salmon recovery: clean water in the reservoirs that we all need as living organisms. Even the hydropower generated at all the federally owned dams are paid for by us taxpayers. How come we don’t get free electric? Even the Dams on the Lower Snake, where does that power go? Does it stay in the local community or does the Bonneville Power Industry sell it on the Grid to other states or the highest bidder? The hydro-electric system on the Snake River is not only a hazard but a waste of money. We need to develop alternative energy that doesn’t cause salmon to go extinct or create toxic lakes from algae.

Julian Matthews

Pullman

The Spokesman-Review: Clean water the answer to salmon recovery