Trump Administration Abandons Deal With Northwest Tribes to Restore Salmon
The Trump administration canceled a deal, signed under President Joe Biden, that would have enabled the removal of four hydroelectric dams along the Columbia River that are considered harmful to salmon.
Local Reporting Network
Higher Prices, Rolling Blackouts: The Northwest Is Bracing for the Effects of a Lagging Green Energy Push
Oregon and Washington are nowhere near achieving their clean energy goals. The dramatic consequences are already being felt.
Local Reporting Network
Liberal Oregon and Washington Vowed to Pioneer Green Energy. Almost Every Other State Is Beating Them.
The Northwest states passed aggressive goals to decarbonize the power supply but left it to the Bonneville Power Administration to build the transmission lines needed for wind and solar. The agency hasn’t delivered.
Local Reporting Network
Hydroelectric Dams on Oregon’s Willamette River Kill Salmon. Congress Says It’s Time to Consider Shutting Them Down.
The newly signed legislation follows reporting from Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica that underscored the risks and costs associated with a plan to migrate salmon past hydroelectric dams using a giant fish collector and tanker trucks.
Local Reporting Network
Despite Biden’s Promise to Protect Old Forests, His Administration Keeps Approving Plans to Cut Them Down
In Oregon’s Coast Range, mature forests can absorb more carbon per acre than almost any other on the planet. Yet logging here continues at a steady pace, putting the environment at risk.
The Department of Energy Promised This Tribal Nation a $32 Million Solar Grant. It’s Nearly Impossible to Access.
Washington’s Yakama Nation received both the grant and a $100 million federal loan. Held up by a series of bureaucratic hurdles, the funding could expire before the government lets the tribal nation touch a dime.
Local Reporting Network
The Federal Government Just Acknowledged the Harm Its Dams Have Caused Tribes. Here’s What It Left Out.
The Biden administration said officials historically gave “little, if any, consideration” to impacts on tribal fishing.
Local Reporting Network
Oregon’s Drug Decriminalization Aimed to Make Cops a Gateway to Rehab, Not Jail. State Leaders Failed to Make It Work.
Just over three years since Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 110, elected officials want to repeal key elements, blaming the law for open drug use and soaring overdoses. But it’s their own hands-off approach that isn’t working, advocates say.
Local Reporting Network
In a Major Shift, Northwest Tribes — not U.S. Officials — Will Control Salmon Recovery Funds
The Biden administration punted on key demands from Indigenous leaders to tear down hydroelectric dams hindering salmon. But tribes won control over $1 billion for other salmon efforts.
Local Reporting Network
9 Times the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Miscalculated Badly at the Expense of Taxpayers, Wildlife
The agency has a history of diving into big construction projects that exceed projected costs, fall short on projected benefits and, in some cases, create new problems that engineers hadn’t bargained for.
Local Reporting Network
“Killing Salmon to Lose Money”
Many endorse opening dams and letting fish coast the natural current as the best way to avoid extinction. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has other ideas.
Local Reporting Network