Introduction and summary
The Snake River winds more than 1,000 miles from Wyoming, through Idaho, and into Washington, where it meets the Columbia River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean.1 The Snake and Columbia rivers are integral to the region’s identity, particularly for Native American Tribes who have lived and fished on these rivers for millennia. In the 1960s and ’70s, four dams were placed on the lower Snake River as key final pieces of a “great national project”—started in the 1930s with building of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River—to harness the power of the two rivers to electrify, connect, and grow a rural region.
“Today I have a feeling of real satisfaction in witnessing the completion of another great national project … It is because I am thinking of the Nation and the region fifty years from now that I venture the further prophecy that as time passes we will do everything in our power to encourage the building up of the smaller communities of the United States.”
– President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the opening ceremony of the Bonneville Dam in 19372
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s national project—large, coordinated federal investments to bring electricity, infrastructure, and natural resource development to a rural region that would help build a strong middle class—did deliver prosperity to many Americans.3 The nation reaped the benefits of rural labor, resources, and innovation, and rural communities prospered.4
But not all people or places prospered. Native Americans across the Pacific Northwest were displaced from their land, and promises made in treaties regarding access to resources and self-governance were largely broken.5 Dams fundamentally changed the river and introduced new hazards to migrating salmon, decimating salmon populations and the ecosystems that depend on them.6 For Native Americans who rely on salmon as a traditional food, these changes have caused additional practical, economic, and cultural harms.7
Collaboration among the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the states of Oregon and Washington is laying out a new road map to recover salmon, build new energy infrastructure, reverse declines in rural economies, and honor long-ignored treaty rights. The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) presents a new vision for the Columbia and Snake river basins that would reinvest in public infrastructure.8 Furthermore, it aligns with important shifts in federal policy designed to address pressing challenges, including rebuilding domestic supply chains to strengthen national security and compete with China, creating new energy infrastructure to meet unprecedented new electricity demands,9 supporting union jobs and higher wages for skilled workers to rebuild the American middle class,10 and giving rural and Tribal governments more say in how projects are designed and who they benefit, including by honoring long-broken treaties.11
This report provides context for the CBRI and a historic memorandum of understanding, called the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA), between the federal government and the two states and four Tribal nations—referred to as the “six sovereigns.” The RCBA is a formal commitment from the federal government to provide $1 billion to fund salmon recovery, clean energy, and infrastructure in the region.12 It brings national attention and resources to implement elements of the CBRI, recapturing the spirit of President Roosevelt’s national vision.13 The new vision would make building domestic energy resources, addressing climate change, restoring natural processes, and making amends to Native Americans for broken treaties a national project.
Investments largely come from existing federal programs that made resources available for infrastructure, alternative energy projects, and supply chain investments. These federal investments are supported by new partnerships and technical assistance that help rural communities and Tribes access resources that meet their local needs.14
This report recommends strategies necessary to implement the agreement over the next five to 10 years. The second Trump administration, Congress, and states can ensure that regional energy and economic needs assessments are completed and that obligated resources are deployed. Doing so is essential to ensure that these crucial projects and commitments are completed in a timely and cost-effective way as well as that promised jobs, treaty obligations, and community benefits are delivered.
Dams and salmon define the Columbia Basin
As writer Timothy Egan wrote in his book, The Good Rain, “The Pacific Northwest is simply this: anywhere salmon can get to.”15 The Columbia River Basin defines much of Egan’s “anywhere”; it is the fourth-largest river in the United States based on the total annual volumetric flow and once produced among the largest salmon runs in the world.16 Before the era of dams, between 5 and 16 million wild salmon and steelhead ran up the Columbia River every year.17 About 1.8 million of those fish made it into the Snake River, the Columbia River’s largest tributary.18 Those fish serve as the foundation of a complex food web. Bears, bald eagles, and spruce, pine, and fir forests rely on salmon, whose bodies carry nutrients from the Pacific Ocean as far inland as Redfish Lake in Central Idaho19—more than 900 river miles and 6,500 feet above sea level.20
Today, 18 main stem dams—14 on the Columbia River and four on the lower Snake River—have greatly diminished those salmon runs. Wild fish have suffered greatly; what salmon remain today are propped up by artificial hatchery production, which makes up two-thirds of a typical annual return.21 The four dams on the lower Snake River—Ice Harbor (1961), Lower Monumental (1969), Little Goose (1970), and Lower Granite (1975)22—changed the river’s flow substantially and were in part responsible for dropping run sizes of naturally reproducing salmon to roughly 16,000 fish, less than 1 percent of historical numbers, in less than 60 years.23
The dams are part of a complex story. The Columbia River Basin grew from roughly 1.8 to 7.2 million people from 1930 to 2000.24 It is predicted to reach approximately 10 million by 2030.25 Dams in the basin have provided jobs, irrigation water for farmers, slack water for barge transport, and more.26 Perhaps most important for the 20th century, the dams provided cheap energy for industrial development and for export. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the Columbia River Basin provides more than 40 percent of the total hydroelectric power in the United States.27 Notably, hydroelectric power made up 60 percent of Washington state’s electricity in 2023,28 giving it one of the cleanest electricity mixes in the country.29
Low-cost electricity, irrigation, and shipping are important to a largely rural region that relies relatively more on natural resources for economic opportunities when compared with urban counties around Portland, Boise, and Seattle.30 Combined, the five counties that house the Snake River dams—Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Walla Walla, and Whitman—have an estimated population of just 215,030, according to the 2023 census.31
Not long after the 1975 completion of Lower Granite Dam—the last of the four lower Snake River dams—the U.S. government turned away from its 40-year approach, largely ending public investment in infrastructure and support for rural communities.32 A new consensus, that government was a barrier to prosperity, not a driver of it, led to the adoption of free trade policies, spurred an anti-tax movement, enabled financial deregulation, and coincided with aggressive automation and productivity gains in many rural sectors. The swing in economic policy ultimately led to worse economic, social, and health outcomes for rural communities throughout the country, including in the Pacific Northwest.33 Between 2019 and 2023, median income in the five counties around the Snake River dams averaged $64,128, 71 percent of the median income for the rest of Washington state, and the average poverty rate was 14 percent, versus 10 percent for the rest of the state.34
History of the Snake River Basin: A Native American focus
Below is a timeline of the Snake River Basin across the past two centuries. It is a history of energy, industrial, and agricultural development,35 but also a history of broken promises made to Native American Tribes.36 Before 1860, the United States signed treaties with the four Tribes—the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe—that promised them sovereignty over their government and lands. Treaties also promised the Tribes rights to fish along the Columbia and Snake rivers as they had for millennia, even in areas outside their reservations.37 The treaties and the trust obligation agreed to by the United States were confirmed and upheld by courts multiple times over the next 100 years.38
The U.S. government remains under nation-to-nation treaty obligations to the region’s Native American Tribes to maintain healthy fish stocks to support traditions and ways of life.39 Those obligations, from the mid-1800s, remain largely unmet.40 Many Tribes have lost locations of cultural and economic significance, including places that today are underwater.41 Native Americans have largely lost their ability to gather first foods—traditional, culturally significant foods (e.g., salmon, berries) gathered from nature and, along with sustenance, important for ceremonial and spiritual practices—having been displaced from many traditional hunting, gathering, and fishing grounds.
The dam-building spanned nearly 50 years, starting with the “308 Program” in 1927 and the completion of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia in 1938 and extending to 1975 with the completion of Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River.42 The dams are generally considered the biggest reason for salmon declines, which is a breach of the United States trust obligation to Tribes.43
Indeed, within decades of the first dams on the Columbia River being built, salmon populations had dropped dramatically, as evidenced by plunging commercial harvest.44 A host of impact studies by federal agencies responsible for managing the dams and fish documented the direct impact of the dams on salmon populations, including adult and smolt mortality passing the dams, and the impact of slack water backed up behind the dams, including higher water temperatures, slower outmigration of smolts, and increased predation.45 In response to the studies and litigation brought by environmental organizations and Tribes, agencies and stakeholders prepared multiple management plans, including recommendations related to dam operations, fisheries management, and dam breaching.46
Tribes have engaged in litigation and, more recently, in collaborative agreements to ask for policy and management changes that would help restore salmon populations.47 Moreover, they have asked the federal government to honor government relationships and address broken promises to deliver essential infrastructure and services.48 Such input would enable Tribes to pursue energy sovereignty and participate in the benefits of economic development and public investments in infrastructure.
Key events related to Tribal treaty rights, dam construction, and salmon decline and recovery efforts in the Columbia and Snake river basins
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Hunting/fishing rights treaties (Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Nez Perce Tribes)
Shoshone Bannock/Fort Bridger Treaty (hunting/fishing)
Treaty rights upheld (United States v. Winans, Yakama Tribe)
Treaty rights upheld (Tulee v. Washington, Yakama Tribe)
Treaty rights upheld (United States v. Oregon)
Treaty rights upheld (Sohappy v. Smith; Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Nez Perce Tribes)
Treaty rights upheld (United States v. Washington)
U.S. government/six sovereigns Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) (see 2001 NWF v. NMFS)
RCBA Tribal circumstances report
Congress/U.S. Army Corp of Engineers 308 Plan for dam creation
Bonneville Dam (on Columbia below Snake) completed
McNary Dam (on Columbia below Snake) completed
The Dalles Dam (on Columbia below Snake) completed
Ice Harbor Dam (lower Snake River) completed
Lower Monumental Dam (lower Snake River) completed
Little Goose Dam (lower Snake River) completed
John Day Dam (on Columbia below Snake) completed
Lower Granite Dam (lower Snake River) completed
Snake River sockeye declared endangered under the Endangered Species Act
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Snake River Recovery Plan
Meyer Tribal Impacts Report
National Wildlife Federation v. NMFS
Columbia Basin fish accords collaboration to fund and do mitigations
Columbia Basin Partnership (CBP) Task Force collaboration for vision, goals
Marine Fisheries Advsory Committee (MFAC)/CBP Vision for Recovering Salmon (Phase I report)
MFAC/CBP Vision for Recovering Salmon (Phase II report)
Bonneville Power Administration Lower Snake River Dams Power Replacement Study
Lower Snake River Dams Benefit Replacement Report (Washington)
NOAA/NMFS “Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead”
Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative
U.S. government/six sovereigns Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) (see 2001 NWF v. NMFS)
RCBA Tribal circumstances report
RCBA regional energy services and dam replacement report
RCBA dam replacement services analysis
Key findings and lessons from the many studies and assessments that followed dam construction include:
- Some wild Snake River salmon are already listed as threatened or endangered and may have only years before becoming functionally extinct.49 Thus, time is of the essence.
- The opportunity for restoring salmon runs, given their decimation, is large. The primary focus, having the best near-term opportunity for success, should be on making changes to the four lower Snake River dams, rather than the 14 dams on the main stem of the Columbia River. Successful restoration of salmon runs on the Snake River—including revitalization of wild salmon runs and improvements to hatchery programs—could be replicated elsewhere in the Columbia Basin.
- Both Native and non-Native communities in the Columbia and Snake river basins are largely rural. The Snake River Basin has only one city (Boise) with a population of greater than 100,000, while the rest of the Columbia Basin has four: Portland, Spokane, Vancouver, and the Tri-Cities. Investments have potential for outsized benefits in rural areas and for Tribes who currently have relatively poor economic conditions.50
- Electricity demand in the Pacific Northwest is projected to grow by 30 percent in a decade.51 Meeting long-term energy needs will require regional upgrades to the grid, new transmission, and transformational new energy sources, including offshore wind, battery storage, green hydrogen, solar, and nuclear.52 The energy generation possible through these new investments and technologies could replace that available from the four Snake River dams, plus meet future expanding demands.53
- Recent federal funding, technical assistance, and capacity support make resources available for fisheries, alternative energy, public infrastructure, and economic development that align with the goals of the six sovereigns, enabling new partnerships that do not require legislation or new funding.54
As the timeline shows, multiple major studies—federal, state, Tribal, and collaborative—have been undertaken and published in the past 30 years regarding how to recover salmon in the Snake River Basin. Most have included action plans, yet action to date has had limited success at restoring salmon or delivering benefits to Tribal and rural communities. This report highlights how the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement makes new federal investments in energy, infrastructure, fisheries, agriculture, and industry that operate differently, delivering more of the benefits to communities and workers and Tribes.
Similar histories of broken treaties have occurred across the United States since the country’s founding.55 Investments and partnerships in the Snake and Columbia basins can serve as a model for remedying similar unmet treaty promises nationwide. Future actions, as described below, can rebuild trust and opportunity for Native American Tribes, along with all struggling communities in the region.
The six sovereigns and the federal government choose cooperation over litigation
Litigation to protect salmon from the impact of the four Snake River dams has been going on since at least since 1992, when Earthjustice sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on behalf of fishing and conservation groups and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.56 The suit contested NOAA’s biological opinion that dam operations in the Snake-Columbia Basin would not jeopardize endangered or threatened fish. Meanwhile, salmon populations continued to decline, and little or no meaningful progress was made to honor Tribal rights57 or invest in needed energy infrastructure to meet growing demands.58
Then, in late 2023, three events converged to change the management and economic development outlook of the Columbia Basin.
1. Presidential proclamation
“[I]t is the policy of my Administration to work with the Congress and with Tribal Nations, States, local governments, and stakeholders to pursue effective, creative, and durable solutions, informed by Indigenous Knowledge, to restore healthy and abundant salmon, steelhead, and other native fish populations in the Basin; to secure a clean and resilient energy future for the region; to support local agriculture and its role in food security domestically and globally; and to invest in the communities that depend on the services provided by the Basin’s Federal dams to enhance resilience to changes to the operation of the CRS [Columbia River System], including those necessary to address changing hydrological conditions due to climate change.”
– President Joe Biden in his September 27, 2023, “Memorandum on Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin”59
The president’s proclamation in September 2023 recognized the importance of the Columbia and Snake river basins to national clean energy, economic development, and ecosystem restoration goals, while also reiterating a commitment to honor Tribal trust obligations. Importantly, the goals of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative matched the same national priorities as two major federal funding streams: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Those priorities include funding for renewable energy, fisheries recovery, ecosystem restoration, job creation, treaty obligations, and community benefits and revenue.60 Leveraging existing federal funding pools to invest in the Columbia and Snake river basins was, and is, a logical way to create federal partnerships that benefit Native American and non-Native communities.
2. Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative
The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) was developed as a collaborative effort by six sovereigns: the states of Oregon and Washington and four Tribal nations—the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe.61 The agreement, released in December 2023, three months after President Biden’s proclamation, puts forth a vision for a Columbia Basin that returns to greatly improved salmon runs, delivers cheap and reliable energy, and includes investments in other infrastructure to meet the region’s economic needs.
The CBRI covers the Snake River Basin. It declares multiple objectives, four of which reflect fisheries, local economies, and Tribal equity—all also reflected in the memorandum of understanding, which is described next. The four objectives are as follows:62
- Objective 1: “Develop and advance an urgent, comprehensive strategy to (a) restore salmon and steelhead to ‘healthy and abundant levels’ consistent with NOAA’s Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force (CBP) and Rebuilding reports.”
- Objective 3: “Ensure interim fish measures minimize additional generational decline of fish populations.”
- Objective 4: “Invest in and support communities and economic sectors … in a manner that: is consistent with meeting decarbonization goals and mandates an integration of renewables; delivers ‘affordable and clean power’; improves resiliency and adaptability to climate change and supports ‘the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region’; and ‘[honors] commitments to Tribal Nations’.”
- Objective 6: “Ensure that the strategy proposed in Objective 1 and associated federal actions ‘honor Federal commitments to Tribal Nations” and address past and ongoing inequities related to the federal hydro system to reflect and uphold federal Treaty and trust responsibilities to Columbia Basin tribes.’”
3. U.S. government commitments under the mediated agreement of a long-standing lawsuit
Also in December 2023, a memorandum of understanding called the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was released following a mediated agreement under the 2001 lawsuit National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service.63 The lawsuit concerned how the Federal Columbia River Power System was affecting endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead species in the Columbia and Snake rivers. A possible driver behind the RCBA was the realization that continuing to fight in court held far less chance of success than following the vision and road map presented in the CBRI by the six sovereigns. The RCBA committed the federal government to engage meaningfully with stakeholders around locally designed strategies, using federal investment and partnerships to change how the economy works for people.
The RCBA includes explicit commitments by the U.S. government in exchange for a temporary moratorium—five years, extending to 10 years depending on satisfactory performance of its commitments64—on plaintiffs suing the federal government under the Endangered Species Act. The RCBA promises time, resources, and new partnerships to address regional needs, with the following commitments from the U.S. government:65
- Continue to plan and invest in salmon and habitat restoration and to build 1,000 to 3,000 megawatts of clean energy projects that directly benefit tribes. In total, the RCBA promises more than $1 billion for these investments.66
- Complete the Tribal Circumstances Analysis. The report, released in June 2024, documents the impacts of four Lower Snake River dams and their operations on the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.67
- Produce several studies that assess what is required to replace the services provided by the four lower Snake River dams before they can be breached. Perhaps the largest and most important study is on energy generation. Led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Lab, the study will look at the dams in the context of rising energy demand, which is projected to increase by 30 percent by 2034 and double from current levels in the 10 years after that;68 transmission needs; and new technologies such as offshore wind, long-duration battery storage, green hydrogen, solar, and nuclear. The study will help assess how these investments can be made so the grid does not need the electricity produced by the dams. The study will also consider dam operations given rising water temperatures and changes in flows needed for fish management. The study is expected in late 2025, meaning the Trump administration will need to continue to fund and support research essential to reliable and cost-effective power for the entire Pacific Northwest region.
- Work in partnership with Tribal, state, and local stakeholders to implement these restoration and modernization efforts. Most importantly, the RCBA promises to honor long-broken trust obligations to Tribes.
The new set of goals and action plans under the RCBA represents a significant shift in the relationship, from adversarial to cooperative, between the federal government, local communities, and Native American Tribes. For the longer term, the RCBA also addresses the concept of developing strategies and funding to replace the energy, transportation, irrigation, and recreation services provided by the four lower Snake River dams. Unlike the CBRI, the RCBA does not endorse—though remains open to considering—the removal of those dams.69
Unprecedented funding opportunities
The RCBA commits $1 billion in new federal investments, including direct project funding, financing, and tax incentives and credits, along with direct pay provisions for Tribal governments.70 Direct funding is sometimes delivered by federal agencies but often through states and other intermediaries, such as state universities, economic development authorities, and nonprofit organizations.71 Many programs include labor standards and place-based incentives for projects in energy, Tribal, and rural community realms. Funding opportunities are also supported by new capacity and technical assistance designed to help rural and Tribal governments, electric co-ops, and other entities access funds to meet their locally defined goals.72
The key behind the RCBA is that goals in the CBRI around sustainable energy, economic development, fisheries restoration, and Tribal partnerships align with programs in the federal Inflation Reduction Act73 and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.74 Much of the source funding for these commitments is already available, and some has already been delivered to the region. (see Table 1)
The IIJA and the IRA authorize funding well into the future—2026 and 2032, respectively. These federal programs are remaking the way the economy benefits workers and communities—rather than corporations and their shareholders—by reinvesting in U.S. infrastructure and industrial capacity, including broadband, manufacturing, energy systems, and money to restore working rivers, forests, and grasslands; by requiring labor standards, community benefits agreements, domestic purchasing, and incentives that direct investments to rural, energy, and Tribal communities; and by providing capacity support, technical assistance, and streamlined application and eligibility criteria to assist communities in accessing funding to meet locally defined development goals.75 Without these resources, standards, and partnerships, new energy and industrial development would be planned and profits earned without local engagement or local benefit.
Substantial resources are already committed to projects in the Columbia and Snake river basins that meet RCBA commitments.76 These obligated funds will be spent over the next several years, meaning that continued implementation and partnership between federal agencies, states, Tribes, private developers, and communities will be needed to ensure successful completion of energy, fisheries, infrastructure, and development projects. Some money that Congress authorized for these types of projects has not yet been obligated to projects; up-to-date accounting for project obligation and funding are highly fluid77 and best referenced through the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration78 or online tools.79 Given the long timelines for funding and project completion, available resources to implement the RCBA should be obligated before February 2025. The RCBA promises that the $1 billion in investments are “new,”80 not an accounting of existing funding that would have been delivered even if the RCBA were not in place. And these commitments must be championed and carried out to completion over the next five to 10 years, regardless of presidential administration or control of Congress.
Some resources are already committed and being spent in the region for two of the key promises of the RCBA: salmon recovery and alternative energy expansion.
Salmon recovery
Projects authorized by the RCBA include upgrading fish passage, improving or building fish hatcheries, improving and restoring habitat, reducing toxins and mitigating rising water temperatures, battling non-native species, and controlling predators. A White House fact sheet from September 27, 2023, details more than $400 million in existing fisheries and water quality funding as evidence of meeting the billion-dollar commitment.81 (see Table 2)
Alternative energy expansion
Alternative energy expansion in the Snake River Basin can deliver cost-effective and reliable energy to meet growing energy demands and will generate employment opportunities, income, and revenue benefits to Native American and rural communities. The commitment to build 1,000 to 3,000 thousand megawatts of renewable energy for Tribes will draw on alternative energy funding from the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pacific Northwest Tribal energy program as well as its Powering Affordable Clean Energy, Rural Utilities Service, and Rural Energy for America energy programs, which include at least 10 Tribal projects.82
Analysis shows that of the almost $75 billion allocated in the IIJA budget under the “Clean Energy and Power” subsection, approximately $7.1 billion is available, mostly through the Department of Energy, to support alternative energy development for the Snake River Basin.83 Applicable programs include, but are not limited to, “Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas,” “Wind Energy Technology,” and “Career Skills Training.”
Similar investments across the country have a track record of success
The regional geographic scale and long-term ambition of the RCBA has precedent in other river basins and Tribal energy investments nationally. (see Table 3) These projects have demonstrated the success of President Roosevelt’s vision of building up the smaller communities with specific projects and partnerships that address common goals and help meet national priorities. These projects have delivered improved habitats and fishery recoveries as well as energy security and resilience. Promises made under the RCBA for investments in the Columbia and Snake river basins will build on these successes.
Conclusion: Embracing the future
Rural communities, including Native American communities, across the Columbia and Snake river basins have struggled to adapt to changing economic conditions. Those changes have been driven by globalization, rapid automation and productivity in natural resource sectors, and underinvestment in public infrastructure. Native Americans, additionally, have suffered under severe ecological and cultural disruption despite treaties between Tribes and the U.S. government that promised to protect them from such damage.
Today, because of the confluence of regional collaboration, new partnerships with the federal government, and unprecedented funding opportunities, many of these challenges are beginning to be addressed. New resources have begun to flow to the region to build needed new energy infrastructure, restore fisheries, and provide capacity, technical support, and local community benefits for rural and Tribal communities.
A strong federal commitment to implementing regional assessments and funded fisheries and energy projects over the coming five to 10 years is necessary; some federal resources, including tax credits and financing for energy projects, are budgeted until 2032, beyond the current administration. Effective implementation of already budgeted studies and projects will ensure benefits for local economies, healthy natural systems, reliable and cost-effective energy systems, and improved Tribal relations. The Trump administration made campaign promises to support working-class Americans84 and to maintain clean and healthy water and air.85 Continuing to implement the RCBA is a simple action the new administration can take to keep those promises.