A coalition of regional power, navigation and agricultural organizations is asking the federal government to withdraw its decision to initiate new environmental reviews of the Columbia and Snake River dams, announced Dec. 18.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation intend to supplement the 2020 Columbia River System Operations environmental impact statement, or CRSO EIS, to address new information and circumstances since it was published in 2020, according to a Corps press release.

The co-lead agencies decided to supplement the 2020 CRSO EIS after a review that considered input from Tribes, stakeholders and federal and state agencies this fall.

“After this review, the co-lead agencies determined initiating (a supplemental environmental impact statement) was appropriate to evaluate the updated and changed circumstances,” the Corps stated.

They include:

• Changes to operations, maintenance and configuration of the 14 projects in the Columbia River System.

• New species that have been listed or proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act, such as the wolverine.

• New reports, studies or other information published since the CRSO EIS was completed.

Stakeholder response

A new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis would be “both premature and unlawful,” the Columbia Basin Regional Alliance for Transparency (RAFT) coalition stated in a press release, warning that it would be incomplete and could mislead the public about the dams’ “vital” role in supporting the region’s economy and environment.

Additional reviews are “unnecessary at this time,” and any supplemental NEPA analysis would be “fundamentally flawed and misleading,” the coalition stated.

“There are significant concerns regarding the co-lead agencies’ proposal to base the analysis on interim reports from the 12/14 Agreement studies and unscientific policy documents, which lack conclusive findings,” the coalition states. “Relying on these incomplete studies undermines the integrity of the NEPA process and risks rendering the final NEPA document unlawful, as NEPA is designed to promote informed decision-making.”

According to the coalition, proceeding with a NEPA analysis based on interim reports “does not fulfill this essential objective.”

The federal government, several regional Tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington entered into the agreement Dec. 14, 2023.

The proposed environmental review could lead to breaching federal hydropower facilities that serve as the largest source of affordable, reliable, clean energy for millions of people in the region while also providing “world-class, clean” river transportation for the regions and nation’s economies, the coalition states.

The coalition cited the Biden administration’s decision to move forward with a “notice of intent” to redo the Environmental Impact Statement completed in 2020.

”That study — just four years old —cost regional electric customers more than $55 million and considered more than 400,000 comments before concluding that our hydropower dams need to stay in place,” the coalition states.

Since that time, energy load forecasts have increased dramatically, the coalition says, citing a 2024 report from the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee that demand for electricity will increase from about 23,700 megawatts in 2024 to 31,100 average megawatts in the next 10 years, an increase in demand of over 30%.

“The decision to proceed with additional environmental studies ignores publicly available data showing significant, sustained increases in fish returns,” the coalition states.

The coalition cites data that average salmon and steelhead returns have more than tripled at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and more than quadrupled at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River during the last 15 years when compared to the first adult fish counts at those facilities, according to data from the University of Washington College of the Environment’s Data Access in Real Time (DART) website.

Various agencies have said that fish returns still fall below recovery goals.

Environmental groups that have long called for dam breaching called the review a “critical next step.”

“It’s clearer than ever that we need a major course change, with new information showing many salmon populations in the basin hovering near extinction,” Earthjustice senior attorney Amanda Goodin said in a press release. “The information available now provides us with all we need to chart a successful path forward. We know we can avoid extinction and rebuild salmon and native fisheries to a healthy and harvestable abundance if we commit to the centerpiece actions they need, including breaching the four lower Snake River dams and replacing their services. We also know we have no time to lose.”

The RAFT coalition will continue to monitor developments on the proposed environmental review and potential impacts to the Northwest.

RAFT is a coalition formed by the Public Power Council, the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, Northwest RiverPartners, Northwest Requirements Utilities, and other regional stakeholders.

The Corps and Reclamation invite federal and state agencies, Native American Tribes, local governments, and the public to submit scoping comments relevant to the supplemental NEPA process no later than March 20. The co-lead agencies will hold at least three virtual public meetings the week of Feb. 10.