Action Alerts

Restore the Snake River

What's At Stake

On May 4, the Biden administration launched a public comment period to gather feedback on Columbia River salmon and other native fish restoration. The government is collecting comment for the next month, but it’s key that we turn out in force and early to have the biggest impact. Submit a public comment today, and please, if you can, take time to personalize it. 

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Join supporters from across the country and tell the Biden administration that breaching the four lower Snake River dams—and replacing the services they provide—must be a part of a comprehensive solution that brings endangered salmon, steelhead, and orca back to abundance and upholds the federal government’s legally-binding commitments to Northwest Tribal Nations.  

Snake River salmon populations, and the highly endangered orcas that rely on them, are headed towards extinction, but we can restore thriving salmon runs and literally pump life into Northwest ecosystems if we breach four dams on the lower Snake River. The dams stop salmon from accessing millions of acres of prime spawning habitat and make the lower Snake River a lethally hot gauntlet for these fish. A recent NOAA report reached the same conclusion, stating that breaching the lower Snake River dams is “essential” and must be a “centerpiece action” to recover endangered Columbia River salmon and steelhead.   

This is a key moment – we’ve already got critical support from statewide elected officials in Washington State such as Governor Jay Inslee and Senator Patty Murray, but the Biden administration has yet to propose a path to breaching the dams and replacing their services. Time is running out for Snake River salmon, and it’s time for our leaders to lead.  

Submit a public comment today telling the Biden administration it’s time to act with conviction and save Snake River salmon. 

A sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Little Redfish Lake Creek, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho.
A sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Little Redfish Lake Creek, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho. (Neil Ever Osborne / Save Our Wild Salmon / iLCP)

85 Days Remain

Delivery to White House Council on Environmental Quality

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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.