U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and his colleagues are concerned that a directive issued by President Joe Biden calling for additional federal steps to be taken to restore salmon and other native fish populations in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River Basin is an effort to breach the area’s dams.
“While the goal of salmon restoration is laudable and a goal we share, we are writing to share our concerns with how this one-sided action would affect our constituents and ignores Congress’s authority,” wrote Sen. Daines and two Republican colleagues in a Nov. 21 letter sent to Biden.
Biden on Sept. 27 issued “Memorandum on Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin,” which states that the native fish populations in the Columbia River Basin are essential to the culture, economy, religion, and way of life of tribal nations and indigenous peoples.
“Actions since 1855, including the federal government’s construction and operation of dams, private dam building, population growth, and overfishing, have changed the ecosystem and severely depleted wild fish populations in the region, substantially harming the tribes’ ability to exercise their rights reserved under treaty to hunt and fish in all usual and accustomed places,” according to a memo fact sheet. “Since the dams were constructed, 13 fish species have been listed as threatened or endangered.”
Therefore, Biden’s memo directs all relevant federal agencies to utilize existing authorities and available resources to restore these wild fish populations and help ensure that the United States upholds its treaty and trust responsibilities to the tribes. It also directs the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to explore opportunities and mechanisms to develop a partnership with tribal nations and states in the Columbia River Basin to ensure that federal, tribal, and state entities work together to achieve this goal.
However, Sen. Daines and his colleagues think that the memo ignores congressional authority over the Snake River dams, scientific data that supports the current state of the dams, the views of regional partners, and the effects it would have on Montanans, according to their letter.
“Congress — and Congress alone — can change the authorized purposes of federal dams and determine their future,” wrote the senators. “Recent history has shown repeatedly that Congress is unwilling to drastically alter the operations of the Columbia River system or remove the lower Snake River dams.”
The lawmakers also pointed out that recent salmon return numbers underscore that the policies implemented by past administrations — both Democrat and Republican — are working.
“Rather than focusing attention on controversial proposals that won’t be implemented by Congress or plans that have buy-in from only a limited portion of those who rely on the river system,” the senators wrote, “we urge you to return to efforts that build on regional consensus, are grounded in science, and can be supported and implemented by Congress.”