the film forum library tutorial contact

Feds to Update Columbia River Dams' Environmental Guidelines by Henry Brannan Murrow Big Country News, December 21, 2024

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

WASHINGTON DC - Federal agencies announced Thursday they will update the environmental guidelines that shape how they operate 14 dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

The move follows a decades-long legal battle that Native nations, environmental advocates and fishing groups are fighting to get the government to take aggressive action on salmon recovery. A lot of that battle has focused on removing dams on Washington's lower Snake River.

The fight came to a head in 2020 when federal agencies released the current guidelines for the federal system's operations -- known as the Columbia River Operating System Environmental Impact Statement -- which came out against removing the four lower Snake River dams.

Environmental groups and others sued in response. Then, in late 2023, the lawsuits were paused in an agreement between federal agencies, the states of Washington and Oregon, environmental advocates, fishing groups, Native nations and the Biden administration.

That agreement required federal agencies to weigh if new guidelines were necessary. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation have now decided they are.

The guidelines at the center of this shape many crucial aspects of the Columbia River dams' management -- including how much water is used to generate hydroelectricity versus how much passes over spillways to help young salmon safely make it to the ocean.

The move to pursue new guidelines sparked celebration among environmental and fishing advocates and condemnation from business interests that depend on a dammed lower Snake.

"At least four Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead stocks have already gone extinct and 13 others -- including all four remaining Snake River stocks -- are listed under the Endangered Species Act," Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Policy Director Liz Hamilton said in a statement.

"Revising (the guidelines) is the logical next step toward meaningful change that complies with the law and the needs of the fish," she added.

Earthjustice attorney Amanda Goodin emphasized that avoiding regional salmon extinction is possible if the agencies commit to needed actions "including breaching the four lower Snake River dams and replacing their services."

In a joint statement, powerful agriculture, shipping and hydropower interests highlighted the lower Snake dams' significant role in the region's economy and called the move to update the guidelines unlawful.

"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," their statement read.

The next step in the process of updating the guidelines -- known cumulatively as completing a supplemental environmental impact statement -- is public feedback.

That will take the form of a 90-day public comment period, said Tom Conning, spokesman for the Corps, which operates 12 of the dams.

"The goal is really to get the public to be aware," he said. "We're trying to get the public to send comments to us for consideration."

Conning said the comment process isn't like voting, where the goal is to select the most popular ideas. Instead, it's about people raising issues the agencies might not have considered to make sure the guidelines include as many factors and potential side effects as possible.

Next, the agencies will release a draft supplemental environmental impact statement, followed by another public comment period. The process will end when the agencies release the final supplemental environmental impact statement.

While it's unclear how long the whole process will take, the more intensive 2020 review lasted just over four years.

To produce the guidelines, the agencies will have to weigh two dozen interconnected factors -- each with significant environmental, economic and social consequences across the roughly 260,000-square-mile Columbia River Basin. Any decision is bound to anger parties across the basin that will take the issue to the courts.

On one hand, hydropower is increasingly valuable because of massive increases in demand for electricity from the tech industry, especially data centers. That's compounded by rising population in the Pacific Northwest and fast-approaching fossil fuel-free grid deadlines in Washington and Oregon.

The four lower Snake River dams produce about 5 percent of the region's electricity -- worth between $415 million and $860 million a year. They also allow grain barges to navigate to Lewiston, Idaho, moving 60 percent of Washington's roughly $750 million in yearly wheat exports.

The overall cost of replacing the dams could be in the tens of billions of dollars each year, according to the Congressional Research Service -- especially if the removal is accompanied by massive investment in hard-hit regions to offset the economic toll, which environmental groups and even a Republican congressman have argued for.

But the harmful impacts of the lower Snake dams on salmon are documented by a growing number of government reports, which show the dams are driving salmon extinction by blocking the fish from historic spawning grounds, favoring predators and other means.

Environmental research groups echo that, noting, "Since construction finished on these four dams in the 1970s, wild Snake River salmon populations have plummeted by more than 90 percent."

Recent estimates show salmon returns to the Columbia have averaged about 2.3 million fish a year for the past decade -- a fraction of the 10 million to 16 million that came before dams.

And that 2.3 million estimate doesn't differentiate between wild and hatchery fish. A 2022 NOAA assessment found the number of wild salmon spawning in Columbia River tributaries declined substantially for nearly every salmon run in nearly every river they measured between 1990 and 2019.

In addition to practical concerns, federal agencies must also navigate a minefield of political uncertainty caused by January's transition in the presidential administration, as well as shifts in Congress.

Conning said that while every administration brings change, the agencies will not be changing course.

"We're following federal laws to guide what we're doing," he said. "And we can't really speculate on the incoming administration and next Congress, and what they might do."

Republicans, who will control the presidency and both the chambers of Congress starting in January, have opposed Snake River dam removal.

During his first term, former and future President Donald Trump showed a clear preference for cutting environmental protections for fish and ecosystems, instead increasing the amount of river water available across the West for farming. He doubled down on that stance while campaigning last summer, The Columbian reported in October.

Whatever the agencies decide on Snake River dam removal, the issue will ultimately have to be decided by Congress.

It's unclear how negotiations on the Columbia River Treaty between the U.S. and Canada -- and a stopgap agreement between the two countries on hydropower generation and flood control -- might shape the agencies' choices.

Public comments on the update can be left at www.nwd.usace.army.mil/columbiariver. The Corps and Reclamation will hold at least three virtual public meetings the week of Feb. 10.

Related Pages:
PNWA Reacts to Biden Administration Announcement to Launch a Columbia River Task Force by Staff, Big Country News, 6/18/24

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."

  (bluefish notes: speaking to "actions within the hydrosystem" to-date, Fish Passage Center's 2024 Draft Comparative Survival Study points out what remains "undisputed" in biostatistics "Discussion" page 300:

  The impact of hydro system development on WTT (Water Travel Time) and migration conditions for salmon and steelhead are undisputed. In addition, the importance of WTT (flow) for the downstream migration survival and adult return is undisputed. Although this is understood, the region has not changed hydro system operations to provide WTTs needed to meet regional salmon and steelhead survival goals. The region still relies on the climate, run-off volume and system flexibility to meet needed WTT for downstream migration. The measures implemented to date, the Water Budget and the Biological Opinion, seasonal average flow target measures have not resulted in WTTs needed for improved survival.

  Because changes in hydro system configuration and operation have not been implemented to provide migration WTT, the provision of WTT migration flows is dependent on run off volume. Favorable migration conditions only occur when run off volume is above average. WTTs, flows for downstream migrating salmon and steelhead are dependent upon the climate. Historically, prior to development of mainstem hydroelectric projects, even low run-off volume years provided adequate WTT for successful downstream migration of salmon and steelhead. The development of mainstem hydroelectric project impoundments increased the cross-sectional area of the migration corridor and slowed WTT. Recent years and predicted climate change conditions indicate that below average run-off volume years will occur more often. Particularly for the Snake River Basin, run-off volume is unlikely to provide required WTTs, in the future, which indicates that cross-sectional area of the migration corridor should be reduced to provide migration WTT for Snake River populations.

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.

###

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