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The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington celebrated on Friday as they signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n
The plan,\u00a0announced in December,<\/a>\u00a0stopped short of calling for the removal of four controversial dams on the Snake River, as some environmental groups and tribal leaders have urged. But officials said it would boost clean energy production and help offset hydropower, transportation and other benefits provided by the dams should Congress ever agree to breach them.<\/p>\n The plan\u00a0brokered by the Biden administration<\/a>\u00a0pauses long-running litigation over federal dam operations and represents the most significant step yet toward eventually taking the four\u00a0Snake River dams down<\/a>. The plan will strengthen tribal clean energy projects and provide other benefits for tribes and other communities that depend on the Columbia Basin for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation, the White House said.<\/p>\n \u201cSince time immemorial, the strength of the Yakama Nation and its people have come from the Columbia River, and from the fish, game, roots and berries it nourishes,\u201d Yakama Nation Chairman Gerald Lewis said at a White House ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Yakama Nation will always fight to protect and restore the salmon because, without the salmon, we cannot maintain the health of our people or our way of life,\u201d Lewis said, adding that Columbia Basin salmon are dying from the impacts of human development.<\/p>\n \u201cOur fishers have empty nets and their homes have empty tables because historically the federal government has not done enough to mitigate these impacts,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a lot more clean energy, but we need to do development in a way that is socially just.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis was among four tribal leaders who spoke at the hourlong ceremony at the White House complex, along with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and an array of federal officials.<\/p>\n The\u00a0agreement<\/a>, formally known as the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, \u201cdeserves to be celebrated,\u201d said Jonathan W. Smith, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.<\/p>\n The settlement \u201ctakes the interests of all the stakeholders in the Columbia Basin into account,\u201d he said. \u201cIt lays out a pathway to restore salmon and steelhead to healthy and abundant levels and moves forward with the necessary green energy transition in a socially just and equitable way.\u201d<\/p>\n Corinne Sams of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation called the signing ceremony a historic moment, not just for the tribes, but also for the U.S. government \u201cand all Americans in the Pacific Northwest. My heart is big today.\u201d<\/p>\n The Columbia River Basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world\u2019s greatest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n Dams are a main culprit behind the salmon\u2019s decline, and federal fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the dams in eastern Washington on the Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia, would be the best hope for recovering them, providing the fish with access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho.<\/p>\n Conservation groups\u00a0sued the federal government<\/a>\u00a0more than two decades ago in an effort to save the fish. They have argued that the continued operation of the dams violates the Endangered Species Act as well as treaties dating to the mid-19th century ensuring the tribes\u2019 right to harvest fish.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s celebration did not include congressional Republicans who oppose dam breaching and have vowed to block it.<\/p>\n Dams along the Columbia-Snake River system provide more than one-third of all hydropower capacity in the United States, said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In Washington state, hydropower accounts for 70% of electricity consumed.<\/p>\n The Snake River dams \u201chelped transform Eastern Washington into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world,\u201d including 40% of America\u2019s wheat, Rodgers said in a statement.<\/p>\n She denounced \u201csecret negotiations\u201d led by White House senior adviser and climate envoy John Podesta, saying he and other officials \u201cworked behind closed doors with a select group of radical environmentalists to develop a secret package of actions and commitments\u201d that advance \u201defforts to remove the four Lower Snake River dams.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden officials \u201cignored the concerns of people who live in the Pacific Northwest and who would be significantly impacted if these dams were breached,\u201d Rodgers said.<\/p>\n Podesta and other speakers at the White House ceremony looked past those concerns, with few even mentioning the dams.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Biden understands that the Columbia River is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest, for its culture, for its economy and for its people,\u201d said Brenda Mallory, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.<\/p>\n \u201cThe historic agreement is charting a new and exciting path to restore the river, provide for clean energy and live up to our responsibilities and obligations to tribal nations,\u201d Mallory said. \u201cI\u2019m confident we will secure the vision \u2026 of securing a restored Columbia River Basin, one that is teeming with wild fish, prosperous to tribal nations, (with) affordable clean energy, a strong agricultural economy and an upgraded transportation and recreation system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to Impact Report, a weekly newsletter on the trends and issues shaping corporate sustainability. 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