News

This past spring, Oregon Council member Louie Pitt, Jr. and Council staff toured the Trout Creek Watershed Restoration Project located in Central Oregon. 

Council members were briefed on spring Chinook salmon returns to the Columbia and Snake rivers, as well as the more sobering update on recovery efforts for Tucannon River spring Chinook.

Laurie Porter and Jon Hess from CRITFC report on the current run of Pacific lamprey and tribal projects currently implemented through the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

While it is possible to replace the output of the four lower Snake River dams while meeting aggressive clean-energy goals, the cost would be substantial, and the reliability of the system could depend on future technologies.

In a challenging economy when costs seem to be rising constantly, low-income households face an increasing risk of being unable to afford basic necessities, including electricity

OPB recently published an article on salmon hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin. See the Council's response.

Against the backdrop of soaring fossil fuel prices due to the war that Russia is waging on Ukraine, a transition to cleaner fuels is underway in the Northwest that will touch nearly all aspects of the economy.

After three years of construction, two miles of a 1950s-era dike have been removed, water-level access to the Columbia has been restored, and more than 900 acres of wetland habitat once again is available to migrating Columbia River fish.

The Bonneville Power Administration plans to increase in its annual budget to implement the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program by $21 million beginning in 2024, and that is good news.

Ensuring the future reliability of the Northwest electric power system while complying with policy goals to reduce carbon emissions is “a challenging process” involving “a mind-spinning array of uncertainties”.