Lower Snake River Dams

In 1945, Congress enacted the Rivers and Harbors Act that would lead to the construction of the four lower Snake River dams (Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Ice harbor) between 1957 and 1975.  The Bonneville Power Administration would be the agency to market the power generated.  The construction of the dams occurred despite the documented arguments that the dams would have an adverse impact on salmon and other fish stocks.

By the mid-1980s, coho salmon in the river were extinct and sockeye salmon were facing extinction.  By the mid-1990s, all of the river’s salmon populations were protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Tribes and Nations have also been devastatingly impacted, being denied Treaty rights and witnessing the decimation of their Treaty rights and cultures. “As each dam was constructed, the tribes objected, calling on the government to reconsider – pointing out that these actions were contrary to the Treaties the United States had signed with them, and predicting adverse consequences for the salmon – and for their tribal peoples. Each time, these tribal objections were ignored, given little weight, or actively opposed by non-Indian interests – and tribal salmon harvests continued to decline.”  Tribes, Nations and environmental organizations have been opposing the dams for several decades with the most recent actions coming from the Earthjustice lawsuit National Wildlife Federation, et al., v.  National Marine Fisheries Service, et al., calling for the breaching of the dams in order to restore fish populations and honor Treaty rights.

In 1992, Earthjustice filed its first legal action against National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) and the long legal journey to restore the salmon and protect Tribal Treaty begins (see more details on the time line here).  Despite taking NOAA to court and winning, NOAA continues to fail work to restore the salmon runs.  The case is still stand open today in 2024.

In 2022, Governor Jay Inslee and U.S. Senator Patti Murray issued the “Lower Snake River Dams:  Benefit Replacement Report” which suggest the only viable means to breach the dams is to ensure that impacted “benefits” (water usage) are replaced.  The major benefits include transportation, energy and agriculture).  In 2023, the Washington State legislature agreed to include in its budget, funds to conduct feasibility studies to replace transportation, energy and agriculutural benefits to facilitate the breaching of the Lower Snake River dams.  In 2024, another feasibility study was approved for recreation.

In September 2023,  Biden issues a presidential memorandum “the Biden administration issues a Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River, which directs “federal agencies to use all of their authorities to restore healthy and abundant wild salmon and steelhead populations across the Columbia and Snake River Basin and to review and update any policies not aligned with that goal.”

In December 2023, the six Sovereigns: Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation Nez Perce Tribe, under court supervision, agreed to Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) and a Memorandum of Understanding.  The court has stated that at any time a party of the Initiative and MOU is dissatisfied, the court case stay will be revoked and judicial proceedings will take up where they left.

The Initiative has several major flaws, a couple of the largest being there is no definitive call to breach the dams and the timeline of 8-10 years is too long to save the Southern Residents, who’s primary food source is the Chinook that come from the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  Grassroots efforts continue to pressure state and federal officials into breaching the dams, particularly President Biden who has the authority to breach them right now.

JUUstice Washington has been engaged with grassroots networks and coalition to help expedite the breaching of the Lower Snake River dams.  In July 2024, JUUstice Washington’s board signed onto to an NGO letter opposing a legislative rider for the Bonneville Power Administration that would have gutted the agreements of the Sovereigns-negotiated Initiative.

Contact the White House:

• Online contact form: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/share/
• Call 202-456-1111
• Mail President Biden:
  1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
  Washington, DC 20500

Sources of Information

More information on JUUstice Washington under First/American Indian Nations.

Covenant of the Salmon People:  https://covenantofthesalmonpeople.com/. Today the [Nez Perce-Nimiipuu] tribe is facing the extirpation of their most prized salmon species despite decades of recovery efforts, and the widespread construction of dams across their Traditional lands has challenged recovery. The only option for the tribe to uphold their ancient deal with salmon and save the species from extinction is the breaching of four dams on the lower Snake River–will the Federal Government take charge of the situation or sit idly while this iconic species vanishes from their home waters?

John Carlos Frey is almost finished with his expose on the Southern Resident Orcas and the Snake River Dams called “The Snake and the Whale.”  Here is a link to his commentary on Toki TV (Tokitae).

Dam Sense: https://damsense.org/

Dam Sense Tribute to Jim Waddell: https://www.sanjuanjournal.com/life/damsense-tribute-to-jim-waddell. Jim dedicated his 35-year career to public service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and National Science Foundation. Jim became an expert on the LSRD and their disastrous effects on salmon while working for the USACE Walla Walla District during their Lower Snake River Feasibility study . . . he recommended breaching in order to comply with environmental law, tribal rights, and fiscal responsibility–an assessment that was ignored at the time but has been consistently validated since.

Earthjustice articles and features

DamNation: DamNation (film) shows how far things have moved and how quickly, from the assumption 50 years ago that dams were always a power for good, to the first successful attempt to remove a marginal dam 20 years ago on the Kennebec River. The film highlights other dam removal stories, including the Elwha and White Salmon Rivers in Washington, the Rogue River in Oregon, and the Penobscot River in Maine.

Coextinction: (film) After a mother orca carries her dead calf for 17 days, two filmmakers spring into action, joining Indigenous leaders and scientists making a final attempt to save the last 73 Southern Resident orcas from extinction. Moving beyond a traditional wildlife documentary, Coextinction takes audiences deep into the oceans and forests of the Pacific Northwest to witness the complex systems of interconnectedness linking together ecosystem collapse, centuries of injustice against Indigenous peoples, and the frontlines of the world’s most pressing environmental threats. No species goes extinct in isolation.

Dammed to Extinction:  (film) Four obsolete dams choke off access to thousands of miles of rivers.  Removing these dams would be the largest salmon restoration project in history. Saving endangered salmon and the near extinct southern resident orcas.

Controversy, Conflict and Compromise:  A History of the Lower Snake River Development by Kenneth Peterson and Mary E. Reed.

Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities and River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake by Steven Hawley. Steven Hawley, journalist and self-proclaimed “river rat,” argues that the best hope for the Snake River lies in dam removal, a solution that pits the power authorities and Army Corps of Engineers against a collection of Indian tribes, farmers, fishermen, and river recreationists. The river’s health, as he demonstrates, is closely connected to local economies, fresh water rights, energy independence—and even the health of orca whales in Puget Sound.