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Dam Backers Appeal Spill Order by Eric Barker Moscow-Pullman Daily News, April 14, 2026

Industries want federal judge to scrutinize again increased spilling

The federal government and hydropower supporters, including the state of Idaho, will ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a lower court's decision to force additional fish passage spill at dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

The dam supporters contend the salmon-friendly measures, which extend into August, will hit Northwest rate payers hard and threaten reliability of the region's electrical power grid.

Earlier this year, Judge Michael Simon of Oregon granted a request from environmental groups, tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington to compel the government to spill more water over the dams and to lower reservoir levels. The spill and other measures are meant to help the fish protected as threatened and endangered while an on-again, off-again court case over the impact dams have on the fish proceeds.

The federal government filed its notice of appeal late last month. Since then, it has been joined by the Public Power Council, Inland Ports and Navigation Group, Idaho and Montana.

"The system-wide impacts of the court order threaten federal hydro operations annually, but all eyes right now are on the month of August. Fingers are crossed it won't be a scorcher summer combined with high spill rates that severely hobble hydro production and threaten blackouts," said Scott Simms, executive director of the Public Power Council, in an April 7 news release. "Of course, ‘fingers crossed' is a terrible way to run the region's largest source of clean, renewable power -- which is why we simply cannot stand idly by and hope it all works out."

Salmon advocates challenged a 2020 plan finalized in the waning days of President Donald Trump's first term in office that is designed to balance dam operations with the needs of the fish. The lawsuit was put on hold in 2023 when the Biden administration reached an agreement with Columbia River tribes like the Nez Perce, and the states of Oregon and Washington, to explore a long-term solution to the salmon and dams issue that has raged for more than three decades.The agreement did not authorize dam breaching, a move favored by salmon advocates. But it did fund studies into the best ways to to replace barging, power generation and irrigation made possible by the dams if they were ever to be breached.

It also pledged $1 billion in spending on salmon recovery and renewable energy development. In exchange, the plaintiffs agreed to pause litigation at least five years, with an option to extend the timeout to 10 years.

When Trump returned to the White House last year, his administration killed the deal, a move cheered by dam backers that include farmers who rely on tug-and-barge transportation to efficiently get their crops to overseas markets, irrigators near the Tri-Cities and the hydropower industry.

With agreement dead, the salmon advocates resumed the lawsuit last year.

Related Pages:
Fed Judge Grants Stay in Dam Litigation by Eric Barker, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, 2/10/24