Biden administration officials chose not to appear for a congressional oversight hearing regarding a leaked draft outlining proposed settlement of litigation over salmon and dams in the Columbia River basin.
Committee members wanted government officials to answer questions about the prospective agreement, which has been negotiated behind closed doors over the past six months.
Instead, the Republican-controlled House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries heard from a witness for conservation groups and from the leaders of stakeholder groups representing public power, agriculture, and transportation interests.
The Dec. 12 hearing featured arguments both for and against breaching the four Lower Snake River dams in Washington as a way to recover threatened and endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead trout.
Interests Weigh In
Republicans claim that removing hydroelectric dams in Washington without an act of Congress would violate the Constitution and have devastating social and economic consequences for the Pacific Northwest.Democrats say the leaked documents are now potentially out of date and came out of closed-door talks that stemmed from 22 years of litigation.
Witnesses in the hearing pushed back against what they called “opaque” discussions.
“This region must grapple with an agreement between the U.S. government and six selected sovereign parties, forged in secret many months ago and only recently made public thanks to the brave acts by a few Northwest congressional leaders,” Scott Simms of the Public Power Council said in his opening remarks.
Democrats countered that closed-door mediations are standard practice in such negotiations.
What’s the Deal?
According to Republicans, the tentative deal, which is expected to be finalized and made public on Dec. 15, would remove or adjust the power generation and river commerce capacities of the four dams, which are a key source of clean energy and enable agricultural transport.The administration would then help the Nez Perce and other Columbia River tribes to develop 1,000 to 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy resources, including wind and solar, that could replace any power deficit created if Congress were ever to authorize breaching of the dams.
In addition, the document says the administration would study alternatives to replace barging and irrigation if the dams are removed, provide financial support for other salmon restoration efforts throughout the Columbia basin, and reform river management by giving the Nez Perce, Yakama, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes—and the states of Oregon and Washington—more influence.
Setting the Stage
Chairman Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) opened the hearing with a snapshot of the issues debated over the past three years.“In July 2020, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued its final biological opinion required by the ESA,” he said.
“That opinion concluded that the operation and maintenance of the Columbia River System of federal dams was not likely to jeopardize the existence of the Snake River spring and summer Chinook salmon, steelhead, fall Chinook, Sockeye, and 11 other species of fish.”
The analysis that led to this decision was based on a 1,400 page study that took four years and cost $15 million, according to Mr. Bentz.
But in 2021, the Virginia-based advocacy group National Wildlife Federation filed a federal complaint challenging the NMFS decision.
“With a new president in the White House, NMFS promptly reversed course, claiming the science robustly supports dam removal on the Snake River, which was the exact opposite of what this very agency had decided a mere 24 months earlier,” Mr. Bentz said.
A federal district court judge then entered a stay of court proceedings based on the assertion that parties to the suit were engaged in “good faith discussions to resolve the entire litigation.”
That stay ends on Dec. 15.
“These so-called good-faith negotiations [including the White House Council on Environmental Quality, tribes, and two states] were closed to the public, the parties were bound by gag-order agreements, and the group was designed to leave out ratepayers, irrigators, navigational interests, and communities dependent upon the flow of commerce along the 465 miles of Columbia and Snake Rivers,” Rep. Bentz said.
He said that none of the parties to the lawsuit who were involved in the negotiations would answer the committee’s questions.
Mr. Bentz described the negotiations as “backroom collusion that would cost millions, increase energy rates for 3 million northwest ratepayers as much as 50 percent, cripple exports, and decimate communities along the river.”
Altering or removing the four dams would require an act of Congress. But Mr. Bentz said he is concerned that the administration will find a workaround.
If the agreement is enacted, he claimed, it would lead to more litigation.
Expert Witnesses
Witnesses focused on the economic effects of losing the hydropower, transportation, and irrigation benefits of the dams if breaching is eventually approved.They also complained that the document was negotiated in secret.
“We are tired of not being represented in this mediation process. We are tired of not being able to take part in meaningful negotiations. But we refuse to be sidelined,” said Neil Maunu, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, a nonprofit that represents ports, transportation, utilities, and agriculture interests.
“The parts of this agreement that were negotiated in secret without input from the local stakeholders are showstoppers,” he said. “It is based on a fundamentally flawed NOAA report that is not scientific and directly contradicts the earlier opinion.”
Mr. Maunu claimed that the report introduces a new term, “healthy and abundant salmon populations,” which he said “lacks any legal standard and is not required by the ESA.”
“It also fails to address river navigation and transportation as a congressionally authorized purpose of the current system, and to consider the carbon impacts of transitioning from river navigation to transport by barge to roads and rail,” he said.
Mr. Simms said the leaked agreement represents the single greatest threat to the Pacific Northwest hydropower system.
“We are now facing a U.S. government agreement that could be devastating for northwest electricity consumers,” he said. “We anticipate under the best-case scenario the impact to rates would be 5 percent. And in the worst case, it would be 50 percent.”
In addition, he said, this agreement shows that breaching the dams was always in the plans.
“Further, it does not limit litigation risks. Parties not bound by this agreement can still bring forth new lawsuits. The opportunity for more litigation is endless,” he said.
BPA will also be induced to acquire tribal energy resources to replace Lower Snake River dam power output, he said.
“These resources are described specifically as replacement resources. This means reliable, 24/7 hydropower will be replaced by intermittent power from renewables like solar and wind.”
This sets up a real threat to grid reliability, according to Mr. Simms.
“So we’re eliminating the cheapest, cleanest, and most reliable power that produces zero emissions and can be added or removed from the grid in seconds, and we have no idea how we’re going to replace it,” Rep. Thomas McClintock (R-Calif.) said.
Lindsay Slater, vice president of government relations for Trout Unlimited, spoke in favor of efforts to breach the dams to help restore fish populations and, at the same time, modernize the power generation system of the Pacific Northwest.
Mr. Slater was formerly chief of staff of Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Idaho), who proposed a $33 billion plan to breach the dams, replace their services, and mitigate economic harm to affected communities and industries.
He said the federal government has an obligation to the tribes to ensure the fish are recovered.
“For almost 100 years, the Federal Energy System has thrived at the expense of the Northwest tribes, whose villages and fishing grounds were submerged and salmon decimated,” Mr. Slater said. “It is unacceptable for any administration to continue prioritizing the competitive position of BPA [Bonneville Power Administration] at the expense of tribal interests in salmon.”
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), who is an ardent supporter of hydropower, said removing the four dams could be disastrous for the Northwest.
“If these dams are breached, those most negatively impacted will include electricity customers, transportation stakeholders, river-dependent ports and communities, farmers, and recreationists,” Mr. Newhouse told the committee.
“The Columbia River System, including the Snake River dams, are critical to Central Washington and the rest of the Pacific Northwest.”
Other witnesses said removing the dams would be detrimental to ratepayers and disproportionately harm low-income customers, such as those of Pacific County Public Utility District (PUD).
Many ratepayers near Raymond, Washington, are below the poverty line, according to Humaira Falkenberg, the PUD’s power resources manager.
“In confronting the need for justice in particular situations, we should avoid deepening injustice elsewhere,” Ms. Falkenberg said. “We remain empathetic to the origin story and the importance of salmon to the (tribes) of the Columbia River and the needs of consumers for affordable, reliable, clean power. But the U.S. government must exercise moral courage in this matter.”
Mr. Huffman said the status quo isn’t working for fish, orcas, or tribes, and he insisted on a modernized grid.
“Unless you’re comfortable with all of this extinction, unless you’re comfortable with sticking it to tribes that have depended on these resources for millenia, then I would say it’s long overdue to move past this failed situation,” he said in his remarks.
