WAWG
Last month, the governors of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana signed a letter to collaboratively advance the goals of the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force and work together to rebuild Columbia River salmon and steelhead stocks. The letter does not mention the lower Snake River dams or breaching them.
“We recognize the relevance of the recent release of the Columbia River System Operations Final Environmental Impact Statement, the Biological Opinions, and the Record of Decision for Columbia River System Operations to this collaboration effort. Our respective states may view the adequacy of these documents differently and, as such, act on that assessment differently. However, regardless of those differences and separate from each state’s recourse, we commit to this ongoing collaboration to help achieve the Partnership’s abundance goals to uphold treaty rights, support state fishery and fishery-related objectives and river-dependent economies. We also recognize the relevance and importance of advancing state clean energy goals and the regional goals to ensure an efficient, reliable and affordable energy system,” the letter states.
Convened in 2017 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MFAC), the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force was tasked with establishing a common vision and goals for the Columbia Basin and its salmon and steelhead stocks. Members of the task force include the four states, tribes and stakeholders from various industries, including fishing, agriculture, conservation, transportation and hydropower. In its final meeting in September 2020, the task force presented its Phase 2 Final Report that provides recommendations and implementation strategies to achieve its goals, which include increasing naturally produced salmon and steelhead to as high as 3.6 million adults.
In their letter, the governors commit to involve the region’s tribes, federal agencies and stakeholders and recognize that efforts to address the task force’s recommendations would be “constructive, science-based” efforts.
The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) does not support any action that would disrupt the ability of wheat growers to ship their crop by barge to export terminals in Portland and Vancouver, including breaching the lower Snake River dams.
“We fully support the preferred alternative put forward in the final environmental impact study that rejects dam breaching and instead calls for implementing more flexible spill operations during times of low power demand to help improve fish passage. We firmly believe that dams and fish can co-exist,” said Michelle Hennings, executive director of WAWG. “Barging is the most efficient and least carbon-intensive mode of cargo transportation available to our growers. To lose that transportation option would not only threaten the livelihood of our growers, but it would also negatively impact the state’s stated carbon-reduction goals.”
Of the Eastern Washington wheat crop that is sent overseas, roughly 60 percent of it is shipped by barge on the Columbia-Snake River System.