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Feds Delay PREPP Meetings, CRSO Supplemental EIS by K.C. Mehaffey NW Fishletter, March 5, 2025

"The reason given was 'to allow new DOE officials to
become familiar with the goals and outcomes of PREPP,'"
-- Rick Dunn, general manager of Benton County Public Utility District

Federal agencies have paused two processes related to a litigation agreement for Columbia River System Operations, prompting speculation that the Trump administration could be putting the brakes on an initiative for improving salmon runs in the basin.

On Feb. 6, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation announced that the public scoping period for the CRSO supplemental environmental impact statement was being extended by two months, and public meetings on the SEIS were being delayed.

"I think, hopefully, it's a sign that maybe they're contemplating not going forward with it," Scott Simms, CEO and executive director of the Public Power Council, told NW Fishletter.

On Feb. 11, Rick Dunn, general manager of Benton County Public Utility District and a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest Regional Energy Planning Project (PREPP) steering committee, confirmed that a committee meeting scheduled for Feb. 13 had been cancelled.

"The reason given was 'to allow new DOE officials to become familiar with the goals and outcomes of PREPP,'" Dunn said in an email to NW Fishletter.

Not everyone sees the delays as a sign that change is afoot.

"At the moment, it's not something that's raising huge red flags for us," Amanda Goodin, a supervising senior attorney for Earthjustice, told NW Fishletter. Goodin said a two-month delay is not a long time.

The DOE study and the adequacy of the 2020 CRSO EIS are among dozens of commitments by the Biden administration that led to a five- to 10-year stay in litigation over Columbia River System Operations.

The commitments resulted from the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative developed by Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes in the Columbia Basin to settle a decades-long lawsuit over hydroelectric dam operations.

In December, the Corps and BuRec issued a notice of intent to prepare an SEIS.

The announcement about the SEIS delay says that the agencies "recognize the need for additional collaborative dialogue about the system and are seeking input from the public to inform a SEIS during the scoping process." The deadline to submit comments was postponed until May 9, and public meetings were delayed to the week of April 7.

Launched in September, the PREPP study will involve an analysis by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of regional energy infrastructure needed to meet future demand in the Pacific Northwest, and will include at least one alternative that considers the needs if the four lower Snake River dams are removed.

Some representatives on the steering committee have been raising concerns about what they see as a lack of adequate representation by public-power advocates, and the potential for modeling assumptions to influence the outcome of the study.

Dunn said the notice cancelling the meeting stated, "The original schedule had the Steering Committee communicate a regionally-vetted set of scenarios and major inputs to the PNNL modelers by March 31, 2025. We are currently considering an extension to the schedule to allow time for adequate Technical and Steering Committee interaction, and for the Steering Committee to deliberate and develop recommendations on modeling inputs and assumptions."

Goodin said she's hopeful the new administration recognizes the benefits of continuing both the SEIS and the PREPP study.

"I think it is pretty common for a new administration coming in to stop and take a breath and get their feet under them," she said, adding, "We're going to be waiting to see what comes after the delays."

Related Sites:
The Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Project (PREPP)
Biden-Harris Administration Releases Report Highlighting Historic and Ongoing Negative Impacts of Federal Columbia River Dams on Tribal Communities Department of Interior, 6/18/24
United States Government's Analysis of the Impacts of Federal Dams on Columbia Basin Tribes Restores the Rule of Law and Supports Immediate Action to Prevent Salmon Extinction Nez Perce Tribe, 6/18/24
Northwest RiverPartners on establishment of Columbia River Task Force, report from Interior Department Northwest RiverPartners, 6/18/24