Pacific Northwest states, tribal nations and environmentalists have asked a federal judge to restart a long-running legal battle over hydropower dams following President Donald Trump’s abandonment of a major settlement deal this summer.
The Trump administration in June voided the $1 billion “Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement,” derailing efforts to breach a series of four dams widely viewed as impediments to the survival of imperiled salmon and steelhead trout populations.
In a motion filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, the National Wildlife Federation along with the settlement’s co-signers — the Nez Perce, Yakama, Warm Springs and Umatilla tribal nations and the states of Oregon and Washington — asked Judge Michael Simon to reopen the lawsuit.
Proponents of breaching the structures in the Lower Snake River — the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams — argue that removing the dams is necessary to lower water temperatures for fish. While the settlement agreed to by the Biden administration laid the groundwork for potentially removing those dams, any final decision would have been in the hands of Congress, where many Republican lawmakers oppose the idea.
