BPA’s Continued Underfunding of Salmon Recovery Work is Business as Usual
Salmon pass by a fish counter window on the Columbia River. Photo credit: IRU archive
Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) decision to allocate $50 million, just 10% of the $500 million in surplus revenues from its 2022 power sales, towards fish and wildlife funding is counter to the Biden Administration’s commitments to recover salmon populations to abundant levels, honor treaties and commitments made with Tribal Nations, and deliver clean, affordable, and reliable power in the Northwest.
The majority of BPA’s half-billion dollar surplus, at 90%, will go towards refunds for ratepayers and debt reduction, despite fisheries projects run by State and Tribal co-managers across the Columbia Basin being underfunded by the agency. BPA is required by the Northwest Power Act to protect, mitigate, and enhance regional salmon runs that have been decimated by the development and operation of dams.
The Act also mandates BPA to demonstrate “equitable treatment” of fish and wildlife needs alongside its power marketing responsibilities – something the agency has continually fallen short on. Years of flat mitigation funding, coupled with inflation and the continued decline of salmon runs, have resulted in fisheries managers unable to engage in important salmon restoration projects throughout the Basin. The $50 million figure was seemingly chosen arbitrarily by BPA staff, where an analysis of fish and wildlife funding in the Basin would have highlighted the unmet needs of fisheries managers and the associated burdens experienced by Tribes relating to recovering salmon runs to abundant levels.
As a federal agency, BPA is in theory part of the Administration’s “whole of government” approach towards crafting durable, long-term solutions to recover salmon populations in the Columbia Basin. This approach was outlined in a list of commitments that were established when the long-running litigation related to salmon and dams was put on hold for another year in the fall. The Administration has made clear that “business as usual” will not lead to abundant, recovered salmon populations and that actions like removal of the Lower Snake River dams and funding the reintroduction of salmon into areas blocked by dams will be necessary to achieve recovery goals.
The Administration has failed in its oversight of BPA by allowing the status-quo of woefully underfunded fisheries management work to persist in this latest funding allocation decision. Such work is vital to ensuring the persistence of vulnerable Endangered Species Act-listed salmon runs, including Idaho’s wild Snake River salmon and steelhead populations.
A recent study by the Nez Perce Tribe found that by 2025, more than three-quarters of the remaining wild populations of spring/summer Chinook in the Snake Basin will be below the “quasi-extinction” threshold, which is essentially a last, dire warning sign before we lose these fish for good. The Administration must align BPA with its regional priorities on salmon recovery and show the leadership required to move the region to a place where abundant salmon runs and low-cost, clean energy are realities.