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Corps/Washington State Sign Agreement to Study Impacts of Snake River Dam Breaching to Transportation, Recreation by Staff Columbia Basin Bulletin, November 18, 2024

Hydropower is increasingly valuable because of massive increases in
demand for electricity from the tech industry, especially data centers.

An agreement to study transportation and recreational services that would need mitigation if the four lower Snake River dams were breached to recover the river's threatened salmon and steelhead was signed early last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Washington's Department of Transportation.

The four dams are federally-owned and operated, and the final decision of breaching would have to be made by Congress.

The partners in the two studies estimate they will cost up to $2 million and would be completed in 2026. The studies will look at lost recreation and the cost to add other recreational opportunities, and future transportation needs when the river is no longer available for tug and barge transportation from Portland, OR to Lewiston, ID.

Lt. Col. Katie Werback, Walla Walla District commander, digitally signed two separate agreements using the Planning Assistance to States (PAS) authority with Washington State's Department of Transportation, and Recreation and Conservation Office, the Corps said in a news release.

The Corps says the studies are part of its broader commitments under the December 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, which secured a long-term stay of litigation in a federal court lawsuit, while "supporting the restoration of healthy and abundant wild salmon, steelhead, and other native fish to the Columbia River Basin."

"We recognize we have an important job to do, and we will continue meeting all authorized project purposes at the dams in the Columbia River System as we implement these agreements," said Werback. "Although these studies are purely exploratory and not linked to any immediate federal decision on dam breaching, they are essential for evaluating potential impacts and ensuring the Pacific Northwest is fully prepared for a range of future scenarios."

The Biden administration, along with the governors of Oregon and Washington and leaders of four lower Columbia River tribes – the six sovereigns – formally signed an agreement in March 2024 that commits the federal government to as much as $1 billion to build infrastructure for eventual removal of four lower Snake River dams and to recover salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin.

Prior to that, on Dec. 14, 2023, the six sovereigns signed a Memorandum of Understanding that agreed to a broad recovery plan known as the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative and an agreement to stay long-running litigation in federal court for up to 10 years. The MOU was accompanied by a list of commitments and funding by the U.S. government designed to ensure the initiative would be successfully completed. Investing in these two studies for recreation and transportation is a part of that commitment.

The recreation study will identify the potential loss of existing recreation opportunities that will occur after the dams are breached and the drawdowns take place in the four reservoirs in the Lower Snake River. The study will also determine the investments needed to accommodate future replacement recreation opportunities under a dam breach scenario. Washington and the Corps expect to complete this study by 2026 at a cost estimated at $1.2 million.

"Recreation is a big part of Washington State's culture and identity," said Megan Duffy, director of the Corps' Recreation and Conservation Office. "Not only does outdoor recreation improve the mental and physical health of our residents, but more than $26 billion is spent on recreation trips and equipment annually, supporting 264,000 jobs across Washington State. It's important that we examine the potential impact to recreation in a scenario where the lower Snake River dams are breached."

The transportation study will give to Washington $750,000 that will be used to enhance an existing $4 million Washington State study and expand the limits of the study into Idaho and Oregon, the Corps said. It will be completed in late 2026. The transportation study will analyze future transportation needs, volume estimates of goods to be transported, and evaluate changes in infrastructure that would be necessary to shift away from river-based transportation methods.

In April 2023, the Washington State Legislature approved 2023-25 transportation budget that included $8 million for studying what would be needed to maintain energy, transportation and irrigation services provided by the four Lower Snake dams should they be breached to recover Snake River basin salmon and steelhead. Some $4 million of that study is for transportation.

Werback signed the agreements using the PAS authority, which permits the federal agency to use its comprehensive planning expertise to supplement and support state and tribal efforts and is provided by Section 22 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1974 (PL 93-251), as amended, the Corps said.

"Planning Assistance to States studies are an important tool in our suite of Congressional Authorities that allows us to provide technical expertise and comprehensive planning assistance to State and Tribal planning efforts," said the Corps ‘Tim Fleeger, Columbia River Basin Policy and Environmental Coordinator.

"It is important to recognize that these studies do not involve any implementation activities by the Corps of Engineers, but they do bring together experts from the Corps and our partners to provide data that can be critical to inform decision makers," he said. "Only Congress can authorize breach of these dams. We will use all relevant data to inform our analyses, and we will continue engaging with our regional Tribes, partners, stakeholders and the public as we undertake these important studies."

Breaching of the dams has been at the center of lawsuits for 24 years and the most recent iteration challenging the Corps' operations at Columbia and Snake River dams, and NOAA Fisheries biological opinion on those operations, was by the National Wildlife Federation and others who challenged the federal government's 2020 environmental impact statement and salmon and steelhead BiOp in the U.S. District Court of Oregon. However, on Nov. 1, 2023, the parties, plaintiffs and defendants asked the federal court to pause the lawsuit until Dec. 15. The lawsuit had been on hold for over two years in a series of stays with the court directive that the parties would hammer out a lasting agreement on how to operate a hydro system while recovering threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.

In exchange for pausing the lawsuit for up to 10 years, the Biden Administration agreed to federal investments of $1 billion for measures that could, if it occurred, advance breaching. The pledge included studies by the Corps to study dam breaching and services needed if breaching occurred.

Redundant Environmental Review is Unlawful, Misleading,
and Jeopardizes Services to Millions

Portland, OR - A coalition of regional leaders calls on the federal government to withdraw its decision to initiate new environmental reviews of the Columbia and Snake River dams. The coalition contends that a new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis would be both premature and unlawful, warning that it would be incomplete and could mislead the public about these dams' vital role in supporting the region's economy and environment.

Given the sharp rise in energy costs and the notable improved recovery of salmon and steelhead returns, the coalition urges the federal government to withdraw its intent to pursue new environmental analyses on the operations of federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. This diverse group, representing millions of electric customers, businesses, farmers, and river commerce leaders, is concerned that additional reviews are unnecessary at this time.

The coalition argues that any supplemental NEPA analysis would be fundamentally flawed and misleading. There are significant concerns regarding the Co-Lead Agencies' proposal to base the analysis on interim reports from the 12/14 Agreement studies and unscientific policy documents, which lack conclusive findings. Relying on these incomplete studies undermines the integrity of the NEPA process and risks rendering the Final NEPA document unlawful, as NEPA is designed to promote informed decision-making. According to the coalition, proceeding with a NEPA analysis based on such interim reports does not fulfill this essential objective.

The proposed environmental review could lead to breaching federal hydropower facilities that serve as the largest source of affordable, reliable, clean energy for millions of people in the region while also providing world-class, clean river transportation for the regions and nation's economies.

The coalition responded to the Biden Administration's decision to move forward with a "Notice of Intent" to redo an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) completed in 2020. That study–just four years old–cost regional electric customers more than $55 million and considered more than 400,000 comments before concluding that our hydropower dams need to stay in place.

The 2020 study concluded that federal hydropower dams and locks are essential to maintaining affordable electric rates, reliable energy service to homes and businesses, and lower carbon emissions. Hydropower is the largest source of affordable, renewable, dispatchable generation in the Pacific Northwest.

Since that time, energy load forecasts have exploded. According to a 2024 report from the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee, "Demand for electricity is projected to increase from about 23,700 average megawatts (aMW) in 2024 to about 31,100 aMW in 2033 (an increase of 7,400 aMW), which is an increase in demand of over 30% in the next 10 years."

The federal government's decision comes as electricity cost increases in the Pacific Northwest far outpace the national growth rate. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail electric rates across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana increased between 5.9-11.4% between 2022 and 2023— doubling (or far more) the 2.6% average rate of increase across the U.S. during the same period. The decision to proceed with additional environmental studies ignores publicly available data showing significant, sustained increases in fish returns.

Average salmon and steelhead returns have more than tripled at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and more than quadrupled at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River during the last 15 years when compared to the first adult fish counts at those facilities, according to data sourced from the University of Washington College of the Environment's Data Access in Real Time (DART) website.

Further, a peer-reviewed study commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2021, "Climate change threatens Chinook Salmon through their lifecycle" provided the following conclusions:

• "Survival through Columbia and Snake River dams generally now meets recovery targets (>96%), and cumulative mortality over 500 km of in-river migrating fish (~50%) is similar to that estimated for unregulated rivers of similar length (i.e., Fraser River)."

• "Our analysis showed relative resilience in freshwater stages, with the dominant driver toward extinction being rising SST (sea surface temperature), which tracked a ~90% decline in survival in the marine life stage."

• "Our results indicate that as one symptom of a changing ocean, rising SST (sea surface temperature) puts all of our study populations at high risk of extinction, despite actions within the hydrosystem to speed juvenile travel and increase in-river survival."

This diverse group of power, navigation, and agricultural users in the Northwest has a strong demonstrated history, and a continued commitment, to engaging when appropriate in proper reviews of programs and policies impacting the Columbia River Basin, its citizens, economies, and the environment. To that end, this coalition will continue to carefully monitor developments on this proposed environmental review and potential impacts to the Northwest. (PDF Copy of this story)

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The Columbia Basin Regional Alliance for Transparent (RAFT) is a coalition formed by the Public Power Council, the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, Northwest RiverPartners, Northwest Requirements Utilities, and other concerned stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest who are dedicated to safeguarding the value of hydropower and preserving the vitality of river commerce activities in and along the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Media Contacts:
Kurt Miller, Executive Director, Northwest Public Power Association
Zabyn Towner, Executive Director, Northwest Requirements Utilities
Clark Mather, Executive Director, Northwest RiverPartners
Neil Maunu, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association
Scott Simms, CEO & Executive Director, Public Power Council
Michelle Hennings, Executive Director, Washington Association of Wheat Growers

Additional Supporting Organizations:
Association of Washington Business
Idaho Consumer Utilities Association
Idaho Wheat Commission
Montana Electric Cooperatives Association
Oregon Municipal Electric Utilities Association
Oregon People's Utility District Association
Oregon Wheat Commission
Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Washington Public Utility Districts Association
Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Washington State Water Resources Association