Independent consultants hired by the State of Washington to look at the impacts of breaching four lower Snake River dams discovered both hope and despair over the potential to resolve the longstanding issue, they said in their draft report released by Gov. Jay Inslee's office Dec. 20. Read more

Reactions to Washington state's newly released draft report examining the positive and negative impacts of removing the four lower Snake River dams are as varied as the views represented in the report itself. Read more

After years of delay, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has 30 days to develop and issue technical documents outlining the causes of high water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. Read more

The debate over lower Snake River dam removal is often framed as a tug-of-war between the perceived environmental benefits to salmon, steelhead and other aquatic life and the economic detriments to farmers, hydroelectric generation, a barging industry and the communities they support. Read more

After an outcry from some of its members, Orcas Power & Light Cooperative agreed in December to revisit its support of lower Snake River dams at its Feb. 20 board meeting. Read more

A Washington State University professor who was among the first to sound an alarm about methane emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs says, in his opinion, "the jury is still out on the extent to which Columbia River reservoirs are significant greenhouse gas sources." Read more

For the first time anywhere, biologists hope to track juvenile salmon and steelhead as they migrate downstream over a high-velocity spillway at the Snake River's Lower Granite Dam next spring, officials say. Read more

Washington's Department of Ecology on Dec. 30 adopted revisions to its water quality standards that will allow operators of the eight lower dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers and five mid-Columbia dams to increase spill that would create up to 125 percent total dissolved gas (TDG) saturat… Read more

Idaho Power plans dropped its lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency after the federal agency approved the State of Idaho's 2012 request to increase maximum water temperature criteria in a stretch of the Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam for two weeks each fall. Read more

A bill to compensate the Spokane Tribe for lands lost with the construction of Grand Coulee Dam passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 16, and was signed by President Donald Trump on Dec. 20. Read more

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council's efforts to evaluate its Fish and Wildlife Program's performance and to be more involved in its budget changes were taken up at the Council's Dec. 10 meeting, but several associated tasks remain undetermined. Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court ruling on how long states have to weigh in on water quality certifications for federal projects. Read more

Under a bill passed Dec. 16 by the U.S. House of Representatives, more than two dozen tribal fishing sites along the lower Columbia River—many of which have become permanent tribal communities—would be evaluated for safety and sanitation conditions, and funds made available to improve those … Read more

As of Dec. 18, precipitation this fall—as snow or rain, at both high and low elevations—has been very low throughout the Columbia Basin and in western Washington and Oregon. Read more

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Dec. 6 unanimously adopted a conservation plan for four species of lamprey, including Pacific lamprey, whose numbers have been declining in the Columbia Basin since the mid-1990s. Read more

More than 146,000 northern pikeminnows were removed from the Snake and Columbia rivers under the Bonneville Power Administration's sport reward program in 2019, BPA reported. Attempting to reduce the number of larger pikeminnows that prey on juvenile endangered salmon, the program pays angle… Read more