Portland, Ore.– A federal judge in Oregon late Wednesday ordered limited changes to operations of hydropower dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest in order to help salmon, saying the Trump administration’s plans for the massive structures would harm salmon runs that are “disappearing from the landscape.”
The ruling came as part of a decades-long legal effort by the states of Oregon and Washington, Native American tribes, conservation and fishing groups to ensure better protection for migratory salmon, which… They were killed in large numbers With huge dams.
In a Historic deal 2023 After pausing the lawsuit in favor of finding long-term solutions, the Biden administration promised to spend $1 billion over a decade to help restore salmon while also promoting tribal clean energy projects.
But last year the Trump administration Explode this agreementCalling it “radical environmentalism” that could have led to the breach of four controversial dams on the Snake River, the plaintiffs returned to court.
In his ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon lamented what he called a “disappointing history of government avoidance and manipulation rather than sincere efforts to solve the problem.”
“One of the founding symbols of the West, a crucial recreational, cultural and economic engine for Western nations, the beating heart and secured resources protected by treaties with many Native American tribes, is disappearing from the landscape,” Simon wrote. “However, litigation continues in much the same way as it has for 30 years.”
Oregon and the other plaintiffs asked Simon to lower reservoir levels behind the dams, which they said could help fish travel through them faster, and to increase the amount of water spilling through them, which could help fish pass over the dams instead of through the turbines. The federal government sought higher reservoir levels.
Simon ordered the reservoirs to remain at the same level as last year and wrote that the changes in his order were “narrowly tailored” and essentially maintained the status quo.
“The federal defendants have, for years, maintained a safe and reliable power system and dam operations at roughly the same levels of seepage required here, and at the same reservoir levels as of 2025,” he wrote.
Amanda Godin, an attorney at environmental law firm Earthjustice, said she was “relieved and very happy that he ordered the levels of leakage that he did.”
“If the government had been allowed to implement its proposal, it would have had truly devastating consequences for salmon,” Godin said.
The Justice Department and the National Marine Fisheries Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment after business hours on Wednesday. The Bonneville Energy Department, which markets electricity from the dams, referred an investigation to the Justice Department.
In court filings, the federal government called the request a “sweeping scheme to wrest control” of the dams that would harm the ability to operate them safely and efficiently for power generation, navigation and irrigation. Any court order could also result in higher rates for utility customers, the government said.
The Columbia River Basin, spanning an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world’s greatest salmon-producing river system, containing at least 16 salmon and steelhead stocks. Today, four of them are extinct and seven are endangered or threatened with extinction. There is another distinctive but endangered species in the northwest of the country, which is a group of killer whales. Also based on salmon.
The construction of the first dams on the Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville Dams in the 1930s, provided jobs during the Great Depression, as well as hydroelectric power and navigation. They made Lewiston, Idaho, the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers still relied on barges to ship their crops.
but Dams hurt salmon In several ways, including by forcing them through turbines, heating slow-moving water in the tanks to unsuitable temperatures, and greatly slowing the migration of young fish into the sea. Young salmon once reached the ocean from the upper Snake River in two or three days as they were pushed by fast currents. Now, the journey across the dams can take eight weeks, during which time they are exposed to more predators.
The plaintiffs, which include the state of Oregon and a coalition of conservation and fishing groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, filed a request for a preliminary injunction, with support from the state of Washington and the Nez Perce Tribe and Yakama Nation as “friends of the court.”
Opponents of the injunction include the Ports and Inland Navigation Group, which says increased spillage to the benefit of fish could hinder navigation, disrupt the flow of trade and harm the economy.
“The order increases the risk of harm to infrastructure, listed species, and public safety while failing to demonstrate that there will be benefits to listed salmon and steelhead,” the organization said in a written statement.
However, dams are too The main culprit Behind the decline of salmon, which regional tribes consider part of their diet Cultural and spiritual identity.
The dams being considered for changes are Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite on the Snake River, and Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day and McNary on the Columbia River.
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Johnson reported from Seattle.