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More Litigation Sure to Follow Dam Mediation by Editorial Board Capital Press, August 24, 2023

Farmers are worried that the Biden administration will agree to terms
that are against agriculture's interest, such as eventually breaching the dams.

As mediation between environmental plaintiffs and the federal government agency defendants over litigation concerning the lower Snake River dams nears conclusion, agriculture and shipping interests say they have been shut out of the process.

They have every reason to be worried that their interests will not be reflected in the final agreement.

Decades-long litigation filed by the National Wildlife Federation and a coalition of environmental groups and tribes regarding salmon in the Columbia River Basin is under a stay agreement until Aug. 31. As part of the agreement, the federal government committed to "exploring" removal of the four Lower Snake River dams.

During the stay, the parties to the litigation entered a mediation process led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in hopes of reaching a settlement.

Northwest RiverPartners and Pacific Northwest Waterways Association's Inland Ports and Navigations Group are parties in the mediation as intervenor defendants. But they say they are in the dark as to what's being discussed.

"We are not being informed about anything that's happening in the mediation," said Kurt Miller, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners, an association that advocates for hydropower. "In the process, there hasn't been any mediation that's involved us."

"The secrecy has been extremely frustrating," said Leslie Druffel, co-chair of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association's Inland Ports and Navigations Group. "...The lack of communication from the (federal government) to intervenor defendants doesn't give us much confidence in this process."

Farmers are worried that the defendants -- the Biden administration -- will agree to terms that are against agriculture's interest, such as eventually breaching the dams.

A recent study from the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association shows that the livelihoods of thousands of farmers would be at risk, as getting wheat to international markets without barge traffic would become too expensive to pencil out.

So, farmers have an intense interest in the negotiations, but are not directly involved.

On a recent trip to the region, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack assured farm groups that ag's interests are being represented.

"There's an inter-agency process in which the Department of Agriculture is making sure that folks who are making decisions which could impact agriculture are taking agriculture's interests and concerns under consideration," Vilsack said. "Rest assured, we are making sure that agriculture is well-represented in the inter-agency process."

Vilsack has always seemed to us an honorable player, so we take him at his word. But, being well represented in an inter-agency process, whatever that is, isn't the same as getting your way.

There are a whole host of potential outcomes from the mediation. Ag interests should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

No matter what the outcome, additional litigation is sure to follow.