The state governments of Oregon and Washington, four Tribal governments, and conservation groups are resuming their litigation against the U.S. federal government over wild salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin after the administration of President Donald Trump pulled out of the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) earlier this year.
“The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was a historic opportunity to restore salmon populations, uphold commitments to sovereign Tribal nations, and meet our region’s clean energy demands,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said. “By walking away, the federal government has put salmon and steelhead on the brink of extinction and once again broken promises to tribal partners. Extinction is not an option. Oregon will return to court to hold the federal government accountable and ensure these iconic fish runs have a future.”
Former U.S. President Joe Biden first announced the agreement between the federal governments and the states, Tribes, and conservation groups in 2023. The agreement included USD 1 billion (EUR 849 million) in federal investments in salmon recovery and a commitment to work with the region’s governments on a comprehensive salmon recovery plan. In return, the parties agreed to pause their salmon litigation for five years.
However, Trump abruptly pulled out of the agreement in June, claiming it valued fish over the region’s hydroelectric power supply.
“My administration is committed to protecting the American people from radical green agenda policies that make their lives more expensive and to maximizing the beneficial uses of our existing energy infrastructure and natural resources to generate energy and lower the cost of living,” Trump said in a memo.
The president has also aimed to reverse the increase of spending on salmon recovery that took place unde the Biden administration.
Now, with the agreement dead under the Trump administration, the parties are resuming their litigation against the federal government.
In addition to the two states, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon.
Environmental legal group Earthjustice is also representing several conservation and wildlife groups in the lawsuit, including National Wildlife Federation, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Sierra Club, Idaho Rivers United, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, NW Energy Coalition, Columbia Riverkeeper, Idaho Conservation League, and Fly Fishers International.
“The Trump administration’s recent actions leave us with no choice but to return to court,” Earthjustice Attorney Amanda Goodin said in a release. “Since this administration has reneged on this carefully negotiated agreement – with no alternative plan to restore our imperiled salmon and steelhead – we find ourselves once again on a course toward extinction of these critically important species. Earthjustice and our plaintiffs, alongside state and Tribal partners, have spent decades protecting Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead – and we won’t back down now.”
Earlier in September, U.S. lawmakers in Congress held a hearing on the Defend Our Dams Act, a bill that would bar federal funds from being used to remove four dams in the Lower Snake River. Opponents of the RCBA claimed it was a prelude to the removal of the four dams, which they say is critical for the region’s power supply. Lawmakers in Congress have attempted to pass legislation blocking any removal of those dams, but the Defend Our Dams Act goes a step further by prohibiting funds from being used to study breaching the dams.
Testifying at the 10 September hearing was Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee Chairman Shannon Wheeler, who was highly critical of the legislation.
“The primary man-caused source of mortality facing Snake River basin fish are the dams and reservoirs that the fish must pass through on their way to the ocean, and we need to do something about that for the fish to survive,” Wheeler said. “Unfortunately, this bill takes a contrary approach that would tie the hands of the federal agencies and force them to ignore the realities on the ground by prohibiting any use to study alternatives and solutions to the largest source of salmon mortality and preventing adaptive and responsive dam operations that would be more beneficial to fish. In doing so, the bill would set the United States on an unambiguous course to destroy wild Snake River salmon runs, which would abrogate our treaty rights to fish in all of our usual and accustomed fishing areas and those of other Columbia River Basin Treaty Tribes.”
