Action Alerts

Restore the Snake River

What's At Stake

The future of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, their salmon, and communities in the region are now coping with a devastating setback after President Trump pulled out of the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement that had set us on the path to restoring the Columbia Basin, including planning for breaching four dams on the Lower Snake River.  Urge your Congressmember to support healthy and abundant salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

Read More

The agreement was a unique and unprecedented opportunity for the Northwest – with Tribal and state leadership at the forefront and support from the federal government – to solve the issues of dwindling salmon and steelhead populations while also supporting new clean energy projects and investing more than $1 billion in the region. The decision to renege on the plan comes after months of inaction from the federal government to fulfill commitments made in the agreement. Instead of supporting agencies’ implementation of the agreement, the Trump administration gutted federal funding for key programs and forced out untold numbers of experienced federal employees at agencies like National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  

We must continue to work in partnership and use all available tools to prevent salmon extinction. Now, the ball is in Congress’ court. Send a letter to your Congressmembers today urging them to support healthy and abundant salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  

Free the Snake flotilla 2016
An aerial view of the Free the Snake flotilla which took place Sept. 17, 2016 near the confluence of the Lower Snake and Clearwater rivers in Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkson, Washington. Participants took part in the action to bring attention to the movement to take down four dams on the lower Snake River to save wild endangered salmon. (Mosquito Fleet)

Delivery to Congress

Important Notice

Your message is delivered to a public agency, and all information submitted may be placed in the public record. Do not submit confidential information.

By taking action, you will receive emails from Earthjustice. Change your mailing preferences or opt-out at any time. Learn more in our Privacy Policy. This Earthjustice action is hosted on EveryAction. Learn about the EveryAction Privacy Policy.

Trouble Viewing This Action?

If the action form is not loading above, please add earthjustice.org as a trusted website in your ad blocker or pause any ad blockers, and refresh this webpage. (Details.) If the action form still does not display, please report the problem to us at action@earthjustice.org. Thank you!

Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.