The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Power Administration and Bureau of Reclamation are reviewing the environmental impact statement for the Columbia River system.

The agencies are “currently assessing existing documents, evaluating updated information, and have initiated modeling efforts in response to changed assumptions arising since completion” of the 2020 Columbia River System Operations Final Environmental Impact Statement, or CRSO EIS, the agencies said in an email to stakeholders.

“We are asking for written input for any relevant new or changed information since completion of the CRSO EIS that you believe is important to consider,” the agencies wrote.

“Tribal, stakeholder, federal and state agency input is important,” said Tom Conning, public affairs specialist for the Corps’ Northwestern division. “We recognize the need for additional collaborative dialogue about the system and gathering input from the region is important to inform next steps. The co-lead agencies will continue to operate the Columbia River System to meet its congressionally authorized purposes.”

A virtual briefing is scheduled for Nov. 6.

Supporters of dams and transportation on the river system anticipated some sort of new EIS, supplemental EIS or U.S. Energy Administration effort under commitments made by the federal government with several Northwest tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington, said Anthony Pena, government relations manager for the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association.

“We definitely hold the 2020 CRSO EIS as the current best science that we have on the river system … and we do have some concerns, just based off a lot of the politics going on with everything,” Pena said.

It’s very early in the process, said Elizabeth Manning, a spokesperson for Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that represents the environmental groups and others who have sued over the river system.

“Earthjustice, on behalf of our plaintiffs, challenged the 2020 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in court, along with the Nez Perce Tribe and the State of Oregon,” Manning said. “As we noted in those filings, the 2020 FEIS is unlawful, so the status quo, or doing nothing, is not acceptable.”

Some of the information that the agencies will assess includes any:

•Changes to operations, maintenance and configuration of the 14 projects in the Columbia River System such as recently modified spill operations.

•New species listed or proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act such as wolverines.

•Anticipated changes in Columbia River inflows to the U.S. from Canada and operational effects related to the modernization of the Columbia River Treaty.

•U.S. government commitments associated with the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement.

•New information published since the CRSO EIS was completed.

“We support developing a new plan that, at a minimum, is supported by a supplemental EIS that is scientifically and legally sound, honors our tribal treaty obligations and restores salmon and steelhead,” Manning said. “Part of that supplemental EIS should be full and fair consideration of an alternative that includes breaching the four lower Snake River dams.”

“We want an outcome that’s based on science and all of the authorized purposes of the projects, not just solely on one particular purpose,” Pena said. “We’re hoping that whatever process is done, it is done with the same amount of vigor, independence and impartiality as the 2020 CRSO EIS was.”