Groups Return to Court to Protect Imperiled Columbia Basin Salmon

Groups Return to Court to Protect Imperiled Columbia Basin Salmon

The Trump Administration's unilateral withdrawal from a historic agreement forces plaintiffs back to court to protect salmon and steelhead from lethal dams

Contacts

Amanda Goodin, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice, [email protected]

Elizabeth Manning, Communications, Earthjustice, [email protected]

Jacqueline Koch, Communications, National Wildlife Federation, [email protected]

Conservation, fishing and clean energy groups today filed a motion requesting the U.S. District Court in Oregon end a multi-year pause on the groups' long-running litigation to protect endangered Columbia Basin wild salmon and steelhead from federal dams that kill and harm them.

The state of Oregon, the state of Washington, 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 joined the request to lift the stay.

The litigation pause was prompted by the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, a historic partnership signed in December 2023 by the federal government, the states of Oregon and Washington, the four lower Columbia Basin Treaty Tribes, and Earthjustice plaintiffs.

As part of the agreement, parties had agreed to a five-year pause of litigation that could have been extended five more years - as long as the agreement was in effect and the federal government continued to work with the states and tribes on a plan to restore the basin's imperiled salmon, steelhead and other native fisheries while investing in affordable, clean and resilient energy across the Pacific Northwest. The agreement included $1 billion in federal investments planned over a decade.

Unfortunately, in June, the Trump administration ended the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreementby issuing a Presidential Memorandumthat abruptly withdrew federal support for the restoration plan and rescinded a previous Presidential Memorandumpledging a sustained national effort to recover native fish populations throughout the Columbia Basin on which tribal nations depend.

The Trump Administration's unilateral decision to abandon the agreement removes the basis for the stay of litigation, as Earthjustice and other parties noted in arguing for the stay to be lifted.

"The Trump administration's recent actions leave us with no choice but to return to court," said Earthjustice Attorney Amanda Goodin. "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 towards 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."

"People in the Pacific Northwest finally came up with a way to increase salmon populations and fishing while improving public services, meeting the promises we made to Tribes, and cutting taxpayer subsidies," said Mike Leahy, senior director of Wildlife, Hunting and Fishing Policy for the National Wildlife Federation. "It's been disappointing to see the federal government overrule all the progress made in the region in favor of returning to court." 

"The unilateral and abrupt termination of the Columbia Basin salmon agreement by the Trump administration is counter-productive and wrong," said Sierra Club Snake/Columbia River Salmon Campaign Director Bill Arthur. "Climate change and ongoing destructive impacts from the four lower Snake River dams, combined with the stagnant hot reservoirs they create, continue to keep our iconic salmon and steelhead runs at the brink of extinction. We have a responsibility to return to court to improve and modernize our hydropower system so we can have affordable and reliable clean energy well into the future, alongside healthy and salmon and steelhead runs. These wild native fish are essential to tribal cultures and important to sport, commercial, and tribal fishing communities and economies throughout the Pacific Northwest.  We can and must do better."

"Trump's misguided decision to walk away from this historic agreement plunges us back into litigation," said Columbia Riverkeeper Legal Director Miles Johnson. "We will nevertheless keep working with sovereigns and stakeholders across the Northwest to find real solutions to restore healthy, abundant salmon and bring our communities forward together. And in the meantime, we'll fight, in court, to protect salmon and salmon cultures from extinction."

"The Trump Administration's decision to tear up the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, with no alternative plan, is a major step backwards for salmon, orcas, tribes and all stakeholders in the Northwest. It jeopardizes the health and future of salmon populations already on the brink of extinction," said Idaho Conservation League Salmon Program Senior Associate Abbie Abramovich. "Unfortunately, it also continues a long pattern of the federal government violating promises to Tribal Nations and we must hold them accountable."

"The agreement had set us on a path to restore a strong fishing economy, honor tribal treaty rights and secure a bright future across the Northwest. Now that the Trump Administration has reneged on the agreement, we must find other ways to keep moving Columbia Basin restoration forward - and that includes returning to court," said Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Policy Director Liz Hamilton. "Losing our irreplaceable salmon would harm everyone, including the sportfishing industry that generates over $5 billion in economic output for the region, creating jobs for nearly 37,000. We won't give up on these fish - and no one else should either." 

Background

Earthjustice has represented conservation, fishing and renewable energy groups, who have fought alongside the Nez Perce Tribe, other Columbia Basin Tribes and the State of Oregon, in successful court battles for more than 30 years to protect threatened and endangered salmon in the Columbia River Basin.

Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead, particularly those that return to the Snake River to spawn, persist at dangerously low abundance and many continue to decline toward extinction. Of the 16 salmon and steelhead stocks that historically return to spawn above Bonneville Dam, four are extinct, and seven more are listed under the Endangered Species Act as endangered or threatened, including all that return to the Snake River. For most of these ESA-listed salmon species, by far the largest threat in their freshwater life stage is the harm caused by federal dams. These dams kill and harm salmon both as they attempt to migrate past each dam and by transforming the river into a series of slack water, warm reservoirs.

The federal government has never come up with an adequate plan to mitigate or prevent the harm these dams cause to listed salmon species. Over the history of the Columbia-Snake litigation, three different federal district court judges declared six different federal dam management plans illegal. The 2020 management plan continues this pattern of failure by putting the needs of endangered salmon last. Earthjustice and our partners challenged that plan when it was issued. In 2021, Earthjustice and its partners chose to pause litigation and join in federal mediation to work on a comprehensive solution to protect salmon.

The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement stemmed from those mediation efforts and was based on a comprehensive salmon recovery plan developed by the states of Washington and Oregon and four lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes - the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. That plan is called the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative; the states and tribes have stated they remain committed to the plan, despite the Trump administration reneging on the agreement that was intended to begin implementing and funding it.

Earthjustice's plaintiffs include the 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, Inc.

Additional Court Documents: Motion to Set Court Schedule

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