5 June
2003
Media Contact:
Charles Hudson, CRITFC,
(503) 731-1257
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Northwest governors should
keep dam breaching on table, tribes say
But leaders' efforts to
bring more accountability to BPA is encouraging
Portland, Oregon
- Columbia Basin
treaty fishing tribes say they're encouraged that four Northwest governors
are pushing for more accountability by the Bonneville Power Administration,
but they believe the governors have retreated from a comprehensive
fish recovery effort.
But tribal representatives are concerned that Govs. Ted Kulongoski
of Oregon, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, Gary Locke of Washington and
Judy Martz of Montana, in a letter to President Bush, are rejecting
the alternative of breaching lower Snake River dams, which they said
is "polarizing and divisive."
The letter, which included a series of recommendations for federal
agencies, was released today at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.
"I'm glad the governors support the tribes' efforts to require
Bonneville to meet its trust responsibilities and fulfill its obligations
to fish and wildlife recovery projects in the basin," said Olney
Patt Jr., executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission and a member of the Warm Springs Tribe. "But rejecting
dam breaching as an option is irresponsible, especially when BPA insists
it will cut funds."
Patt added: "I would like to know the science that supports such
a stance. There's plenty of evidence that supports taking out these
dams."
Patt pointed to a report released last year by RAND, an independent
research institution, which found that breaching dams while diversifying
the Northwest's electricity mix through increased conservation and
renewable energy use would have little impact on the economy.
In fact, according to the report, salmon recovery would provide a
net economic benefit for the region.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state
ranks first in the Northwest, and eighth in the nation, in spending
by sport fishers, which totaled nearly $854 million in 2001. In Idaho,
recreational salmon fishing generated about $90 million for the state's
economy, and much of the money was spent in struggling towns like
Riggins, Orofino, Lewiston and Kooskia, according to Idaho Rivers
United, a nonprofit conservation group based in Boise.
"The aggressive non-breach strategy had no substance and the
judge was clear," said Allen Slickpoo Jr., CRITFC chairman and
a member of the Nez Perce Tribe. "Both the federal government
and the tribes found that policy was a sham with the lagging BPA funding.
This strategy has to be backed up with funds and political support."
Patt was one of several tribal representatives in Washington, D.C.,
this week to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
on Bonneville's failure to properly manage its fish and wildlife budget,
consult with tribes over funding, and honor treaty obligations.
In February, the Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakama and Nez Perce tribes
joined 50 other members of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
in calling for a financial and management audit of the federal wholesale
energy marketer. In a resolution, ATNI also condemned Bonneville's
proposal to significantly reduce its annual fish and wildlife expenditures,
and its disregard for recommendations for hydropower operations recommended
in the National Marine Fisheries Service's 2000 Biological Opinion.
A U.S. district judge invalidated the biological opinion in a ruling
last month.
A similar resolution passed later that month by the National Congress
of American Indians, as well as complaints aired at a CRITFC-sponsored
tribal fisheries co-management symposium in January, helped prompt
the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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