Wednesday February 26, 2025
Moscow-Pullman Daily News —
Organizations that promote and advocate for navigation and power generation on the Snake and Columbia rivers are sounding the alarm over federal layoffs and retirements.
The Trump administration is poised to fire as many as 600 probationary employees of the Army Corps of Engineers in the Pacific Northwest, according to the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association. The Bonneville Power Administration that markets electricity generated at federal dams and manages a vast transmission system in the region is losing about 400 employees — roughly half to retirement and half to job cuts.
The loss of those workers could slow or even cripple services provided by the dams, say Neil Maunu, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, and Kurt Miller, executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association.
Maunu said the layoffs when combined with an unknown number of people who accepted the government’s recent deferred resignation offer will rob the Corps of its ability to carry out critical work associated with navigation. His letter to members of Congress from Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana specifically cites the upcoming lock maintenance program at Snake and Columbia River dams and the near annual effort to dredge the lower Columbia River navigation channel as examples.