Snake River dams

For years, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse has argued the Lower Snake River dams make up an important energy source for the Northwest and that they can coexist with salmon. Now, he’s introduced a bill on the issue.

Less than two years ago, the administration of President Joe Biden announced what tribal leaders hailed as an unprecedented commitment to the Native tribes whose ways of life had been devastated by federal dam-building along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest.The deal, which took two years to negotiate, halted decades of lawsuits over the harm federal dams had caused to the salmon that had sustained those tribes culturally and economically for thousands of years. To enable the removal of four hydroelectric dams considered especially harmful to salmon, the government promised to invest billions of dollars in alternative energy sources to be created by the tribes.This story comes to you from Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

(Runtime 1:02)If the four dams on the Lower Snake River were to be removed, a lot of the services they provide would need to be replaced. That includes…

&t=34s Toxic algae is turning up once again on the Snake River.(Runtime 0:51) Toxic algae is turning up once again on the Snake River.Water sampling on…

(Runtime 0:52)After decades of courtroom drama, a document leak and years of negotiation, federal officials agreed with six Northwest tribes to restore…

For Northwest tribes, removing the four lower Snake River dams means more than just saving salmon, more than just saving the orcas that rely on salmon for…

(Runtime 1:34) For more than 40 years, Bruce Gordon has flown people over wild lands and wildlife habitats across the West, from Oregon’s Klamath River to…

Indigenous and non-Native people gathered for the All Our Relations Snake River Campaign event in early October along the banks of the Hells Gate State…

(Runtime 0:45)Several conservation and fishing groups say the Snake River dams are making the river too hot for sockeye salmon. Now, they’re planning to…

(Runtime 1:02)At a Congressional hearing in Richland, Wash., designed to defend the four Lower Snake River dams against calls for removal, a panel of nine…