The US House of Representatives is threatening to sabotage years of progress and months of negotiations that culminated in the groundbreaking Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement last year. The Agreement, forged between federal agencies, the states of Oregon and Washington, four Northwest Tribes, and a collection of conservation groups, signaled regional momentum toward restoring abundant salmon, steelhead, and other native fish throughout the Pacific Northwest. Now, that momentum may be undermined by the US Congress.
As part of the U.S. Government’s commitments in the agreement, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) allocated $300 million over the next decade to fund new salmon restoration projects. This includes hatchery repairs that are long overdue. The funding is meant to be indexed to inflation – BPA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have already laid out how the money will be spent over the coming years in their capital planning.
Northwest electric utilities are concerned about how this expenditure will affect their rates. Expenses incurred by BPA are paid back through the utilities’ purchases of electricity from the agency, so higher agency expenses lead to higher rates. However, an analysis by BPA showed that the additional funding would generate a rate increase of only 0.7% after the decade of funding, far below the rate of inflation and an insignificant part of BPA’s other growing expenses. Funding from BPA is just a small step toward restoring abundant salmon and steelhead, with minimal impact on electric ratepayers.
Nonetheless, electric utilities and certain Members of Congress are hellbent on meddling with the Agreement and sabotaging commitments made by the US Government. Language introduced in the House version of the 2025 Energy & Water Appropriations legislation would cap the funding from BPA at $300 million, without indexing it to inflation. This would effectively reduce the amount of funding actually available for new projects. In addition, the language is poorly written in a way that could allow agencies to reduce their spending on fish recovery even more.
We must strip this language from both the House and Senate versions of this bill to ensure it never gets enacted into law. Congress should not be meddling after the fact in agreements made between the federal government and sovereign entities.
Take Action today and urge your Members of Congress to reject this blatant attempt to undermine the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement and sabotage regional progress toward restoring truly abundant salmon and steelhead.