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BPA is Sabotaging Administration Efforts on Salmon and Renewable Energy by Mitch Cutter Yakima Herald, June 25, 2023

In March, President Joe Biden committed his administration to restoring Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead to abundance to stave off extinction, rejuvenate Northwest fishing communities, and uphold the United States' obligations to tribal nations. The Biden administration has also committed billions of dollars to renewable energy infrastructure, as part of our nation's efforts to decarbonize and reduce the effects of climate change.

But one of the administration's own agencies -- the Bonneville Power Administration -- is sabotaging these efforts from within.

BPA is responsible for selling energy produced by federal hydroelectric dams in the region, including the four lower Snake River dams. The agency also funds projects designed to mitigate for the dams' effects on salmon and steelhead. Since 1980, the agency has collected more than $26 billion from Northwest electricity ratepayers to fund these programs. This is the single largest, most expensive species recovery program in history, but fish populations are still in decline, presenting real consequences for people dependent on salmon.

The Columbia River spring chinook fishery was shut down early this year, as fishery managers sought to protect highly endangered chinook returning to the Snake River. Fishermen in Alaska are feeling the pain as well, as their chinook season may be canceled due to concerns over starving southern resident killer whales. The Snake River once produced more than half the chinook in the Columbia Basin. Restoring these fish to abundance would ensure a sustainable food supply for orcas and a greater harvest for anglers from Salmon, Idaho, to Sitka, Alaska.

Instead of dedicating resources to recovery and facing the salmon challenge head-on, BPA has turned its back.

The most significant action that we could take for Snake River salmon is breaching the four lower Snake River dams, as laid out in both a 2022 federal study and a 2023 resolution from the American Fisheries Society. But BPA has consistently advocated against dam breaching and funded scientific research aimed at raising doubts about whether dam breaching is necessary.

Short of dam breaching, the agency is nickel-and-diming salmon to extinction. It has failed to fund essential maintenance work at dams and hatcheries, reduced funding for habitat restoration such that contractors (many of whom are tribal members) are paid below federal standards, and otherwise artificially capped funding for fish recovery at a time it's needed most. Even now, BPA is dragging its feet as other federal agencies look for a comprehensive solution for salmon and other stakeholders in the region, slowing progress and endangering any chance at real change that President Biden is trying to achieve.

On renewable energy, BPA has clearly failed to lead the region on a pathway toward decarbonization. There are more than 100,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects in BPA's “Interconnection Queue,” waiting to be built and connected to the energy grid. BPA has created delays and high costs that inhibit these projects from being constructed. On a grander scale, the BPA transmission system hasn't significantly expanded since the 1980s. The agency's lack of vision will slow regional decarbonization. It also means President Biden's signature, transformative infrastructure funding for renewables isn't yet being deployed in the region at anywhere near the scale it could be.

New resources are essential to fulfill growing electrical demand arising from population growth and the electrification of transportation and heating. In addition, the reliability of hydropower is declining as river flows change and there's less water in late summer, when the region's energy demand is high. We need to diversify the Northwest's energy grid away from just hydroelectricity and embrace solar, wind, and battery technologies that generate energy when the region needs it most.

A 2022 study by consulting firm Energy Strategies showed that a portfolio of renewables built to replace the lower Snake River dams would reduce the risk of blackouts and provide more value to the region than the dams' energy does.

It's time for BPA to modernize its approach and lead the region to a future of abundance for fish and renewables. If it won't, it's up to the Biden administration to get BPA in line.

This is a moment of significant opportunity to leverage federal infrastructure dollars, construct new renewable energy sources, upgrade transmission, stave off extinction and actually restore salmon and orcas, and advance tribal justice.

Will President Biden get hung up on BPA's intransigence, or will he live up to his promises?