Trump Withdraws From Agreement With Tribes to Protect Salmon
The federal government has been mired in legal battles for decades over the depletion of fish populations in the Columbia River Basin, caused by four hydroelectric dams in the lower Snake River. Native American tribes have argued in court that the federal government has violated longstanding treaties by failing to protect the salmon and other fish that have been prevented by the dams from spawning upstream of the river. That legal fight is now expected to resume, with no brokered agreement in place.
In its statement announcing the withdrawal, the White House made no mention of the affected tribes and portrayed the issue falsely as revolving around 'speculative climate change concerns.'
The tribes had called for the dams to be breached as a way to restore the salmon population, a proposal that has faced intense pushback because of the potential costs. A study found that removing the four dams was the most promising approach to restoring the salmon population, but also reported that replacing the electricity generated by the dams, shipping routes and irrigation water would cost between $10.3 billion and $27.2 billion.
The 2023 agreement from the Biden administration, a memorandum of understanding with the tribes that brokered a 10-year truce in the legal battles, committed $300 million to Washington, Oregon and the tribes to restore the wild salmon population. The Biden administration allocated another $60 million to the effort last year.
But the Biden administration did not take a position on the most contentious proposal of breaching the dams. The agreement called for additional study of the proposal and committed to supporting clean energy projects that could replace the power generated by the dams. However, the Biden White House noted in a statement that any decision and authority to breach the dams 'resides with Congress.'
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