The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still determining “how to proceed” in implementing actions directed by the 2024 Water Resources Development Act and a new jeopardy biological opinion for its 13 Willamette River projects completed by NOAA Fisheries Dec. 26.
The Corps says that it still needs funds from Congress that it could get through the annual federal budget that is working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, but that the efforts are also complicated by the change in administration at the federal government.
“We are working with our headquarters (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works (ASA-[CW]) to determine how to proceed with the implementation of the 2024 Water Resources Development Act and the NMFS Biological Opinion,” Corps spokesperson Kerry Solan said. “Those efforts have been complicated by the administration change and the need to appoint a new ASA(CW).”
The WRDA legislation, signed by then President Joe Biden Jan. 4, authorizes Corps projects throughout the nation, but specifically for its Willamette projects the 2024 WRDA directs the Corps to consider what the system and the river would be like without hydropower. It also calls on the Corps to pause work on plans for two juvenile fish passage structures at Detroit (North Santiam River) and Green Peter (South Santiam River) dams.
Just eight of the Corps Willamette dams have the ability to generate electricity, but that power comes at a high price (some five times higher than Columbia River dam generation). The Corps’ Willamette dams generate just 1 percent of the region’s electricity while losing some $700 million over the course of 20 years.
An article produced by ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting and republished by permission in the Columbia Basin Bulletin, said that “The (WRDA) mandate says the Corps needs to shelve designs for its fish collectors — essentially massive floating vacuums expected to cost $170 million to $450 million each — until it finishes studying what the river system would look like without hydropower. The Corps must then include that scenario in its long-term designs for the river.”
See CBB, January 20, 2025, ‘Killing Salmon To Lose Money’: A Costly, Questionable Plan On Oregon’s Willamette River, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/killing-salmon-to-lose-money-a-costly-questionable-plan-on-oregons-willamette-river/
After NOAA had evaluated a revised proposed action submitted to the agency by the Corps in August 2024, it determined the proposed action would jeopardize the continued existence of upper Willamette River Chinook salmon and steelhead, both listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, and that the proposed action would result in adverse modification of the species’ designated critical habitat.
NOAA went on to list other salmonid species in the Willamette and Columbia river systems that would be adversely impacted, including Lower Columbia River Chinook salmon, Upper Columbia spring-run Chinook salmon, Snake River spring/summer-run Chinook salmon, Snake River fall run Chinook salmon, Columbia River chum salmon (O. keta), Lower Columbia River coho salmon (O. kisutch), Snake River sockeye salmon (O. nerka), Lower Columbia River steelhead, Middle Columbia River steelhead, Upper Columbia River steelhead, Snake River Basin steelhead, and Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) and their designated critical habitat.
“However, the proposed action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of these species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of their critical habitat,” NOAA concluded in its BiOp.
NOAA’s 2024 BiOp focuses on the Corps’ preferred alternative from the Corps’ Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Willamette Valley System, with some key additions and clarifications that focus on implementation, the BiOp says.
The BiOp says the proposed action consists of the continued operation and maintenance of the Willamette system for the congressionally designated authorized purposes of flood control, hydropower, irrigation, navigation, recreation, fish and wildlife, water supply and quality, as well as actions to ensure the system’s operations comply with the ESA.
“This includes the continued operation of existing structures and facilities, modifications to operations and construction, and operation and maintenance of new structures,” the BiOp says. “The new elements of the proposed action were developed to improve fish passage through the WVS dams using a combination of modified operations and new structures. It also includes measures to improve downstream water quality, balance water management flexibility, and reduce project effects for ESA-listed fish.”
In more detail, the BiOp lists as components of the proposed action as:
— An adaptive management and implementation plan, which is a roadmap that lays out the strategy and schedule for implementation, ongoing assessment of the proposed action, and proposed improvements to the Willamette Action Team for Ecosystem Restoration governance and coordination process.
— In addition, the BiOp action includes downstream fish passage structures to be constructed at Detroit Dam, Lookout Point Dam, and on a smaller scale at Foster Dam.
— A structure to improve downstream water temperature management to be constructed at Detroit Dam.
— Changes to operations to facilitate downstream fish passage at Cougar and Green Peter dams.
— The other operational change is a new integrated temperature and habitat flow regime.
The Corps had failed to complete a number of the activities that were listed in the 2008 BiOp and eventually was taken to court.
The Corps’ court involvement is due to a lawsuit by Northwest Environmental Defense Center, WildEarth Guardians and the Native Fish Society. The groups asked the U.S. District Court of Oregon to order the Corps and NOAA Fisheries to reevaluate the impacts of the Corps’ Willamette Valley dams on wild upper Willamette River winter steelhead and wild Spring Chinook. They asked the court to order the two agencies to reinitiate consultation and to make immediate operational adjustments to dams on four tributaries of the Willamette River (North Santiam, South Santiam, McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette) that the groups say block between 40 and 90 percent of spawning habitat.
In his summary judgement ruling in the case, Aug. 17, 2020, Judge Marco Hernandez said of the Corps that “Far short of moving towards recovery, the Corps is pushing the UWR Chinook and steelhead even closer to the brink of extinction. The record demonstrates that the listed salmonids are in a more precarious condition today than they were at the time NMFS issued the 2008 BiOp.”
“The directive from Congress gives us all the chance to figure out what makes the most sense in the long term while the Biological Opinion requirements will hopefully kickstart recover in the near term,” Jennifer Fairbrother, legislative and policy director at The Native Fish Society, said in a Fly Lords magazine interview this month. “It’s time for the Corps to lay out the full suite of options for recovering fish in the Willamette basin. This means assessing whether eliminating commercial hydropower production can save our fish and save northwest ratepayers money. Of course, given the Corps’ track record of flouting Congressional directives, we’re skeptical that the Corps will complete this analysis in anything resembling a meaningful timeframe, if ever.
Still funding the required actions in the 2024 BiOp is an issue for the Corps, as it also was for completing required activities in the 2008 BiOp, according to Solan.
“In order to implement the biological opinion and complete any necessary actions directed by WRDA, we would require funds from Congress because USACE primarily receives funding for its various activities, including implementing Biological Opinions and WRDA projects, through the annual federal budget,” Solan said.
“If we look back, the 2021 injunction was related to funding for BiOp measures,” Solan said. “The (2008) BiOp laid out a series of measures intended to mitigate harm on ESA-listed species in the Willamette River Basin.
“While Portland District carried out a series of actions, we did not accomplish everything because we did not receive funding for all the measures. This is a function of how the annual appropriations process unfolds when there are many USACE projects/measures across the nation that need appropriations, and there are limited funds.”
NOAA’s 2024 BiOp of the Corps’ Willamette Valley system is here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3//2024-12/WCRO-2023-00324-PERM-BiOp-WillametteValleySystem-20241226.pdf
For background, see:
— CBB, February 7, 2025, Wild Vs. Hatchery: Court Rules Willamette Hatchery Summer Steelhead Harm Wild Winter Steelhead, Seeks Remedies, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/wild-vs-hatchery-court-rules-willamette-hatchery-summer-steelhead-harm-wild-winter-steelhead-seeks-remedies/
— CBB, December 9, 2024, Court-Ordered Drawdown In Willamette Valley To Aid Salmon Halted Early Due To Downstream Water Quality Issues, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/court-ordered-drawdown-in-willamette-valley-to-aid-salmon-halted-early-due-to-downstream-water-quality-issues/
— CBB, October 12, 2023, COURT ORDERED DRAWDOWN OF WILLAMETTE RESERVOIR TO AID ESA SALMON LEADS TO DEATH FOR THOUSANDS OF KOKANEE, HTTPS://COLUMBIABASINBULLETIN.ORG/COURT-ORDERED-DRAWDOWN-OF-WILLAMETTE-RESERVOIR-TO-AID-ESA-SALMON-LEADS-TO-DEATH-FOR-THOUSANDS-OF-KOKANEE/
— CBB, October 8, 2024, Corps Holds Information Sessions To Explain Willamette Dams’ Drawdowns To Aid Salmon, Steelhead, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/corps-holds-information-sessions-to-explain-willamette-dams-drawdowns-to-aid-salmon-steelhead/