Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Applaud House Passage of Bipartisan Water Infrastructure Bill Urging Army Corps to Study No-Hydropower Alternative in the Willamette River Basin
House Passage of WRDA 2024 Comes on the Heels of the Corps Missing a Key Congressional Deadline to Submit Report on Impact of Hydropower on Salmon and Ratepayers at Willamette River Basin dams
Grand Ronde, OR—The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024 by a bipartisan vote of 359-13. This water infrastructure legislation—passed by Congress on a biennial and often bipartisan basis—contains important language requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate a no-hydropower alternative as the agency plans for future operations and maintenance at Willamette River Basin dams. The dams are pushing salmon to extinction and produce very little power at a high cost to families and businesses. This vote in the House comes on the heels of the Corps missing deadlines set in WRDA 2022 and WRDA 2020 to submit reports on deauthorizing hydropower in the Willamette Basin to Congress.
In response, Kathleen George, Grand Ronde Tribal Councilwoman, released the following statement:
“We applaud the House of Representatives for passing WRDA 2024, bipartisan legislation that contains language requiring the Army Corps to evaluate an alternative that ceases hydropower production at Willamette River Basin dams. We know that hydropower at these dams is pushing Oregon’s native Chinook and steelhead salmon populations to extinction, all while costing families and businesses more money on their energy bills. The moment could not be more urgent: the National Marine Fisheries Service just found that a lack of safe passage both to and from high-quality habitat above the dams is the biggest cause of the decline of endangered salmon populations. We thank Reps. Hoyle, Chavez-DeRemer and Salinas for their leadership on this issue, and we urge Congress to prioritize salmon recovery and send this language to the President for his signature as soon as possible.”