Tuesday July 16, 2024
Corvallis Advocate —
Inexplicable delays to a federal report on ending hydropower generation in the Willamette River Basin to save threatened fish are creating frustration and concern for tribal leaders and conservationists in Oregon.
Congress directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2022 to produce a report by the end of June 2024, detailing the impacts that eight federal hydroelectric dams in the Willamette River Basin have had on native fish populations over the past 60 years, and the possibility of deauthorizing hydropower at the dams to save the fish. Ending hydropower generation at the dams can’t happen without congressional approval.
Instead, the report is sitting in Washington, D.C., under administrative review.
Kerry Solan, a spokesperson for the Portland District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said her office submitted its disposition report – an evaluation of corps projects that no longer serve their intended purpose – to headquarters in D.C. and that she could not comment further on the process. She could not discuss whether the report from the Portland office was submitted on time or where responsibility for the delay should lay.