Restore the Snake River

First, Senator Murray and Governor Inslee released their long-awaited final report, which said that the “status quo is not an option,” “saving salmon and other iconic species in the Columbia basin is imperative,” and that “the impacts and benefits of breaching the dams are significant, but they can and must be mitigated or replaced.” Then, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a report showing that, in the effort to protect Snake River salmon, “the centerpiece action is restoring the lower Snake River via dam breaching.”

On top of the support from NOAA and Washington’s elected leaders, the Biden administration said in an August filing with the Court in our long-running litigation:

“The Biden Administration is committed to supporting development of a durable long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power, and meeting the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region. The Administration recognizes that business as usual will not achieve the goals of restoring salmon populations and ecosystem functions… and many areas remain inaccessible to them. In the face of climate change, urgent action is needed to restore salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels. The Administration is committed to rapidly engaging on comprehensive, durable solutions in the Columbia River Basin.”

With this overarching commitment from the administration and scientific clarity from NOAA, we believe we have the best opportunity yet to reach a decision by the end of this administration’s first term to restore the lower Snake River. Of course, a decision that meets these commitments will have to address impacts to the communities and interests the current river system supports including providing clean, renewable and reliable energy for the Northwest as we decarbonize our electric grid. In order to seize this historic opportunity, we’ve extended our litigation pause for another year to give us more time to work out the details.

This progress would not have been possible without the efforts of people like you. In the last year, Earthjustice supporters like you sent 220,000 letters to elected officials calling for action. We need to keep this momentum up as we move into a new year to make sure the Biden administration meets its commitments and that the new Congress moves towards authorizing dam breaching and begins to make the necessary investments in Snake River communities to replace the dam’s services.

This fight isn’t just about the flow of a river — it’s about holding the government accountable to its promises. The government, through treaties with Native American Tribes and the legal requirements of the Endangered Species Act, promised that Snake River salmon and Southern Resident Orcas (of which only 72 remain) would not become extinct but would be restored. Our leaders have now acknowledged that the business-as-usual approach of past decades will break those promises, but we need your help to do the hard part — move them from commitment to action.

Join us in calling on the Biden administration and your members of Congress to make good on their responsibilities by breaching the Snake River dams and investing in Snake River communities.