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Biden Administration Sets Columbia River Task Force, Outlines Damage to Tribes by Matthew Weaver Capital Press, June 18, 2024

"So began the dramatic decline of salmon and the consequent
transfer of wealth from the Tribes to others," the report states.

The White House has announced the formation of a Columbia River task force and issued a report outlining the impacts of 11 federal dams on Native American tribes in the region.

"Federal dams in the Columbia River Basin have long delivered -- and continue to deliver -- renewable energy and many other benefits," the White House Council on Environmental Quality stated in a press release. "But they have also inflicted -- and continue to inflict -- grave harms on Tribal communities. ...

"Today the Department of the Interior is releasing a report acknowledging and detailing the historic, ongoing and cumulative damage and injustices that the federal dams on the Columbia River have caused and continue to cause to Tribal Nations. The report marks the first time the U.S. government has detailed these harms."

Breaching of the Lower Snake River dams would require Congressional authorization and is therefore not an action that could be agreed to through either the report or the task force, according to CEQ.

Damages listed

The report begins by putting the dams' impact into historical context, following the arrival of settlers and the establishment of commercial fishing and construction of canneries, as well as the impacts of dredging the river for navigation, logging and mining.

"So began the dramatic decline of salmon and the consequent transfer of wealth from the Tribes to others," the report states.

According to the report, by the late 1930s, Reclamation dams had blocked all the salmon tributaries in the Snake River above Hells Canyon except for the lower Malheur, Weiser, and Bruneau rivers, resulting in the loss of approximately 75% of historic salmon habitat above Hells Canyon.

Snake River salmon and steelhead runs, estimated to have produced 1 million to 2 million fish annually, "plummeted" 90% by the mid-1900s, according to the report.

"Wild salmon returning to the Snake River Basin are 0.1% to 2% of the abundance at the time the United States entered into the 1855 Treaties with tribes," the report states. "Even in the undammed portions of the Snake River Basin, primarily on the Salmon River, salmon return at only a minute fraction of historical abundance."

The report also cites displacement of people and damage to tribal villages, fishing sites and other cultural and natural resources.

Task force

The new task force is established by CEQ.

Nik Blosser will serve as the first executive director of the Columbia River Task Force. He previously was chief of staff for former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and is also a second-generation winegrower and founded his own media company, Celio Group Media.

"I am honored to lead the new Task Force, which will coordinate efforts across the federal government and partner with states and Tribal governments to restore native fish populations while ensuring communities and businesses continue to have reliable clean energy in the region," Blosser said in a press release.

Other agencies represented on the task force include the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, the Office of Management and Budget and CEQ.

"The Columbia River Task Force will implement President Biden's vision to develop affordable, clean, and reliable energy options for the region while working to restore wild fish populations and address the grave harms the federal dams have inflicted on Tribal communities," said Brenda Mallory, CEQ chair. "President Biden recognizes that to confront injustice, we must be honest about history -- even when doing so is difficult. The report released today is an important step to recognize and overcome the past together."

"This bad faith report is just the latest in a long list of examples that prove the Biden administration's goal has always been dam breaching," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said in a statement. "They continue to undermine the honest regional dialogue we need to determine the future of the Columbia River System with a politically-motivated report that -- in their own words -- 'is based on limited sources' and uses 'examples to support the conclusions.' This irresponsible means to justify an end is misguided and should not be taken seriously, especially by those who understand the tremendous benefits this critical infrastructure provides to our region."

Commitment fulfilled

The 70-page report fulfills a commitment made by the department to stay litigation on Columbia River system operations, as part of the December 2023 agreement between the federal government, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe and the states of Oregon and Washington.

The Interior Department committed to completing the report by June, according to the report.

"Given the short timeframe, this report considers only a portion of the basin's federal dams and the Tribes most immediately impacted by those dams," the report states.

The report considers the impacts of:

• The four lower Columbia dams -- Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day and McNary.

• The two upper Columbia dams -- Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee.

• The four lower Snake dams -- Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite.

• Dworshak Dam, on the North Fork Clearwater River, upstream from the Snake River dams.

"The department acknowledges that federal dams and reservoirs in the Columbia River Basin impact all Basin Tribes, and that the 11 dams specifically considered in this report also affect more Tribes than those considered here," the report states.

Water supply study

The announcement of the task force and the report follows a June 14 announcement that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Washington State Department of Ecology have initiated a Lower Snake River Water Supply Replacement Study, designed to obtain a "detailed understanding" of current water supply and irrigation, municipal and industrial uses near the four Lower Snake River dams, evaluate impacts to water delivery in the event Congress were to authorize breach of the dams, and evaluate mitigation approaches in the event they are breached.

The bureau and Ecology will host two virtual public meetings to share information and address questions from interested parties throughout the study area June 25 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. June 27 from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Related Pages:
Vilsack on Snake River Dams: Ag 'Well-Represented' in Mediation by Matthew Weaver, Capital Press, 8/1/23