News Release: Biden Administration Agrees with Northwest RiverPartners on Importance of Region’s Carbon-Free Electricity, Agriculture & Salmon (NW RiverPartners, Vancouver, WA)

(VANCOUVER, WA) - - Today, after 13 months at the negotiating table, the Biden Administration shared the next step in the process of seeking solutions in balancing our region’s energy, climate, salmon recovery, resiliency, food security, and economic goals as they relate to the ongoing operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System. In a Presidential Memorandum, President Biden acknowledged the region must meet its commitments for reliable carbon-free electricity, for agriculture, and for salmon:

“In recognition of these priorities, it is the policy of my Administration to work with the Congress and with Tribal Nations, States, local governments, and stakeholders to pursue effective, creative, and durable solutions, informed by Indigenous Knowledge, to restore healthy and abundant salmon, steelhead, and other native fish populations in the Basin; to secure a clean and resilient energy future for the region; to support local agriculture and its role in food security domestically and globally; and to invest in the communities that depend on the services provided by the Basin’s Federal dams to enhance resilience to changes to the operation of the CRS, including those necessary to address changing hydrological conditions due to climate change.”

These multiple objectives of fighting climate change, restoring salmon, and ensuring healthy agriculture through a robust hydropower system are at the foundation of Northwest RiverPartners’ goals for the region.

While we are encouraged by the Biden Administration's commitment to these multiple objectives made possible by the hydropower system, we are disappointed the Memorandum ignores the fact that much of the work has already been accomplished through the development of the 2020 Columbia River System Operation Final Environmental Impact Statement (CRSO FEIS) and corresponding Biological Opinion.  As the most robust multi-objective study the region has undertaken, the CRSO FEIS demonstrates the best ways to achieve the multiple objectives articulated by the Administration and should form the basis for any future decisions.

In response to today’s announcement by the Biden Administration, Kurt Miller, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners issued the following statement:

“Today’s announcement is bittersweet. Northwest RiverPartners applauds the Biden Administration for going on record as recognizing the unique and essential role the region’s hydroelectric dams, including the Lower Snake River Dams, play in helping us meet our clean energy, climate, economic, and salmon recovery objectives.  Unfortunately, the Memorandum released today builds on and extends a flawed process that has denied affected stakeholders and the public a meaningful role.  Any further effort to develop a plan to achieve the multiple objectives articulated by the Memorandum must allow for and facilitate greater involvement by affected stakeholders.

The issues of energy affordability, reliability, and decarbonizing our grid must be central to any plan development going forward.  We urge the Biden Administration to embrace the importance of affordable energy for the Pacific Northwest. Over 25% of our region qualifies as energy burdened. The Biden Administration should consider potential impacts to these people, including within the context of the Administration’s own Justice 40 Initiative as it considers plan development going forward. Multiple studies have shown that the energy replacement costs if the Lower Snake River dams were destroyed would be $15 billion or more. That doesn’t count the billions in additional costs for agriculture and shipping.”

Additionally, a more inclusive and science-based dialogue regarding salmon recovery standards and the timeframe for achieving them needs to be part of plan development going forward.  In a mid-May 2023 public interview, Richie Graves, NOAA’s Columbia Hydropower Branch Chief noted:

For every 100 young chinook and steelhead that head downstream and past the four dams every spring, about 75 survive.  “That’s pretty good,” said Ritchie Graves, Columbia Hydropower Branch chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “In a lot of river systems, that would be something they would shoot for.”  For each of the four dams, NOAA maintains a separate survival standard for juvenile salmon heading downstream. The agency wants 96% survival for yearling chinook and steelhead, and 93% for “subyearling” chinook less than a year old.  The dams are achieving those performance standards, Graves said.  For adult fish swimming upstream, the survival rate is above 90%.[i]

But in a separate, unauthored report that included inputs from plaintiffs to the litigation, others at NOAA defined the recovery standard differently.  And an increasing body of research is demonstrating that the greatest threat to salmon survival is climate change.  Before a plan can be developed, scientific metrics used to measure success must be established and agreed to.  Today they are not.

Miller continued, “We have one shot at responding to climate change.  Our hydroelectric dams play an essential role in meeting the challenges we – and the salmon – confront with climate change.  This must remain a central pillar of the Administration’s efforts going forward.”

[i] https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sectors/grains/amid-a-battle-over-snake-river-dams-a-look-at-how-the-salmon-are-doing/article_c76c740a-dadd-11ed-ad18-9fb96a214c52.html

News Release: Northwest RiverPartners’ Statement on Salmon Reintroduction in the Upper Columbia River Basin (Northwest RiverPartners, Vancouver, WA)

(VANCOUVER, WA) --The following statement can be attributed to Kurt Miller, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners:

“The announcement of an agreement between the US Government, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and the Spokane Tribe of Indians shows we can work toward realizing both our clean energy and salmon recovery goals and solve problems collaboratively to benefit all of our communities.  

Taking this next step in studying salmon reintroduction above these blocked areas is the right thing to do. It lays the foundation for the possibility of sustainable salmon runs in the upper Columbia River Basin. Reintroduction has the potential to create hundreds of miles of upstream habitat for salmon, responds to important Tribal commitments, and does so without negatively impacting the hydropower our region relies on for carbon-free, affordable energy.

Northwest RiverPartners’ board of directors visited the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) in Spokane in April to learn more about the UCUT Phase 2 Implementation Plan (P2IP) proposal. We appreciate the time UCUT took to educate us on P2IP and the foundation it provides to scientifically study the reintroduction of salmon above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams—two dams that were built without fish passage. Our board was unanimous in supporting P2IP. 

We also want to acknowledge the leadership and contribution the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) – and, ultimately, ratepayers – are making to accomplish these goals.  While we do have some reservations about the open-ended language in the Memorandum of Understanding presented by the US government, we look forward to partnering with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and the UCUT organization to explore opportunities for additional non-BPA funding to fully implement this effort.”

Public Power Council, Inland Ports & Navigation Group, Northwest RiverPartners release joint statement on Biden Administration extension of Columbia River System Operations litigation mediation (NW RiverPartners)

Organizations Express Concern with the Process - Support More Transparency

August 31, 2023

(Vancouver, WA) -- Today, the Biden Administration requested [and secured] an additional 60-day stay extension to allow for continuation of the already two year-long mediation process regarding the Columbia River System Operations litigation. The Public Power Council, Inland Ports and Navigation Group, and Northwest RiverPartners did not oppose this limited further extension of the stay while we continue to review its longer-term implications.  Although respectful of the confidential nature of the substance of the ongoing mediation discussions, all three of our organizations nevertheless feel compelled to express their deep reservations and considerable disappointment regarding the overall process that has been followed in the mediation so far, and we intend to remain highly engaged on seeking to ensure that it is meaningfully modified going forward so as to become more productive, inclusive, and transparent during this latest stay extension.

 

Our organizations collectively represent millions of electricity customers, farmers, river-dependent ports, transportation, and export sectors across the region who to date have not had a true seat at the table in negotiations carried out pursuant to the ongoing mediation.  This is of significant concern to us because we feel strongly that major decisions about the region’s continuing ability to provide reliable, safe, low-carbon electricity and transportation should not be decided when directly and significantly impacted parties such as our organizations are not present in the room.

 

We therefore strongly urge the Biden Administration and all other parties to the litigation to avail themselves of this new extension and join together at the mediation table to discuss our shared goals of salmon recovery within the context of maintaining grid reliability, energy affordability, access to irrigation, and low-emission transportation options, while also meeting the challenges presented by climate change.  We also urge the Biden Administration and plaintiffs in the litigation to acknowledge the many operational and financial concessions already made over decades – up to and including as recently as this year.  Our organizations, and each of our respective members, stand in solidarity behind the principle that this extension should be seen as an opportunity for truly comprehensive and productive negotiations among all major stakeholders and not used simply as a means to craft steep concessions to plaintiffs that will saddle even greater costs and burdens on ratepayers and river users, while not adequately accounting for their interests and values or ensuring that the full suite of critically important purposes of the Columbia River System are met.

 

Kurt Miller, NWRP Executive Director, released the following statement regarding the Biden Administration’s announcement today:

 

“Hydropower is the cornerstone of our region’s clean, reliable, and equitable energy future. Given the threat posed by climate change to people and to salmon, carbon-free hydropower is even more important. We can’t have salmon recovery without reducing emissions and lessening our dependence on fossil fuels.  Hydropower is our region’s solution to the climate crisis.”

 

Scott Simms, CEO & Executive Director of the Public Power Council, released the following statement:

 

“Hydropower is the backbone of this region’s energy supply while also being the largest, most consistent source of funding for one of the world’s largest fish and wildlife mitigation programs – bar none. Revenues from Northwest non-profit, community-owned utilities already fund the lion’s share of habitat, hatchery and hydro system improvements, all the while as robust fish harvesting activities continue year in and year out. We need others to join us in our efforts to help salmon, not look for ways to further hobble the very hydro system that currently provides a vast range of environmental and economic value to Northwest communities large and small.”

 

Neil Maunu, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) Executive Director, released the following statement on behalf of the Inland Ports and Navigation Group, a subset of PNWA:

 

"Low-cost, fuel-efficient barge transportation is one of the main reasons our region continues to be competitive in the global market. It keeps our products moving, our economy thriving and plays a significant role in our region's efforts to combat climate change,” said Neil Maunu. “The communities that rely on this river system, including farmers, farm workers, and transportation operators, support a collaborative, science-based approach to salmon recovery in the Columbia River Basin. We are committed to being part of the solution in these conversations going forward and to ensuring that we can continue to have a healthy river and a healthy economy in the Northwest.”

 

Background

The Inland Ports and Navigation Group (IPNG) is comprised of ports, farmers, pilots, transportation companies, terminals and water resources stakeholders who work to balance economic prosperity with environmental stewardship. They strive to protect inland navigation, hydropower, irrigation on the Columbia Snake River System, while supporting a healthy environment and robust fish runs in the Northwest. IPNG is a subset of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA), a broad regional trade group representing over 150 members from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. www.rivervalues.com. 

 

The Public Power Council, established in 1966, is an association that represents over 100 consumer-owned electric utilities in the Pacific Northwest.  PPC’s mission is to preserve and protect the benefits of the Federal Columbia River Power System for consumer-owned utilities, and is a forum to identify, discuss and build consensus around energy and utility issues.  For more information, please visit us on the web at www.ppcpdx.org. 

 

Northwest RiverPartners is a not-for-profit, member-driven organization. Members include community-owned utilities, ports, and businesses from across the northwestern United States. The organization is focused on raising awareness about how the Northwest’s hydropower system betters communities and the natural environment and encourages science-based solutions that help hydropower and salmon coexist and thrive. http://nwriverpartners.org.