As WaterWatch recently detailed, along with fellow environmental organizations in a Columbia River Treaty Conservation Caucus press release, and as reported by the Associated Press and PBS, the U.S. and Canada have reached an agreement in principle on some items that were the subject of negotiations in the ongoing update to the Columbia River Treaty.
Unfortunately, that update remains focused on utility revenue and flood control at the expense of imperiled salmon and the overall health of the Columbia River. As WaterWatch executive director Neil Brandt was recently quoted, “Salmon have suffered tremendous losses through the industrialization of the Columbia Basin’s rivers. A modernized treaty must do better for salmon.”
The newly-revised treaty doesn’t.
Implementing hydropower and flood control along the once-mightiest river in the west came at great cost to the upriver habitat and ecosystems of the Columbia River, to salmon, and tribal nations in the watershed.
While WaterWatch and allied environmental organizations pushed the U.S. to develop a third primary purpose of the treaty focused on ecosystem function, the federal response to the science and years of comments and concerns — as far as we can tell — shortchanges salmon and the health of the river.
To that end, we need everyone’s help this Monday, Aug. 5th, at 12 noon PDT.
The U.S. State Department, which was responsible for negotiating the U.S. portion of the update, will host what is expected to be an information-only presentation on the treaty update beginning at 12 noon on Monday. It’s expected to be over by 1 p.m. You can register for the meeting here.
While public comment is neither anticipated or expected, it’s important to have as large a showing of concerned citizens, river advocates, and WaterWatch members as possible dialed in to demonstrate our ongoing support and concern — just as we have throughout this process — along with our disappointment with a result that continues to forsake salmon, communities that depend on salmon, and a healthy Columbia River.
Can we count on you to dial in to demonstrate our numbers and concern?
Photo by Tommy Hough.