Picture by Kent Sanders
A decades-long authorized battle over the destiny of 4 federal dams on the Decrease Snake River has entered a vital new part, with environmental plaintiffs and the Trump administration heading towards a pivotal courtroom showdown. Tomorrow marks the deadline for authorized briefs in what might change into one of the crucial consequential rulings for Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead in years.
The intensified litigation follows President Trump’s June 12, 2025 revocation of a Biden-era Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that had paused the lawsuit for as much as 10 years. The settlement, often called the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, dedicated over $1 billion in federal funding towards salmon restoration and laid groundwork for the potential breaching of the 4 Decrease Snake River dams—Ice Harbor, Decrease Monumental, Little Goose, and Decrease Granite.
Emergency Measures Looked for Spring Migration
Earthjustice, representing a coalition of conservation teams, filed a preliminary injunction request in October 2025 asking U.S. District Court docket Decide Michael Simon to mandate emergency operational modifications on the dams starting in March 2026. The requested measures embody reducing reservoir ranges to minimal working swimming pools and rising water spill over the dams—permitting juvenile fish to move over the buildings quite than via generators that may kill or injure them.
The states of Oregon and Washington, together with the Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, have filed briefs supporting the injunction request.
“When the Trump administration reneged on this fastidiously negotiated settlement—and provided no different plan to revive imperiled salmon and steelhead—we had no choice however to renew our longstanding litigation to guard endangered salmon,” mentioned Earthjustice Lawyer Amanda Goodin in an October court filing.
The litigation dates again to 2001, when the Nationwide Wildlife Federation and Oregon first sued federal companies over dam operations that plaintiffs argue violate the Endangered Species Act.
Fish Populations at Crucial Ranges
The urgency behind the authorized push is underscored by alarming inhabitants knowledge. In accordance with the Nez Perce Tribe’s Fisheries Resources Management department, six Snake River steelhead populations—27% of the species’ whole quantity—are actually on the “vital listing,” which means they’re under extinction thresholds or quickly approaching them. Ten Snake River spring/summer season Chinook populations face related dire circumstances.
In 2025, only 14 wild Snake River sockeye salmon efficiently returned to their spawning grounds in central Idaho—a stark illustration of how far these populations have fallen since being listed as endangered.
Summer time steelhead returns have been depressed for almost a decade. The 2025 forecast predicted simply 25,790 steelhead returning to Decrease Granite Dam—roughly one-third of the earlier 12 months’s returns.
“The fish are something however wholesome,” mentioned Jay Hesse, Director of Organic Providers for the Nez Perce Division of Fisheries Sources Administration, noting that claims of enhancing salmon numbers typically depend on hatchery fish whereas obscuring the collapse of untamed populations.
Trade Teams Push Again
The proposed injunction has drawn fierce opposition from navigation, agricultural, and energy pursuits. More than 30 opposing briefs have been filed in federal court docket by December 2025, warning that the requested modifications would threaten financial stability all through the Pacific Northwest.
The Pacific Northwest Waterways Association argues the proposed measures might threaten navigation security and river system reliability. The 4 dams keep a navigable waterway that handles roughly 10% of all U.S. wheat exports.
NOAA Fisheries filed testimony suggesting the proposed measures would possibly truly improve—not lower—the chance of salmon populations falling under extinction thresholds in comparison with present operations.
“Our electrical grid is underneath unprecedented pressure, this movement dangers plunging our area into disaster,” mentioned Kurt Miller, CEO and govt director of the Northwest Public Energy Affiliation.
Vitality consultants estimate the proposed operational modifications would price the area $152 million to $169 million in 2026 to exchange misplaced hydroelectric capability and would lead to elevated carbon emissions as pure fuel amenities compensate for diminished dam output.
The Trump Administration’s Place
President Trump’s June 2025 presidential memorandum, titled “Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Generate Energy for the Columbia River Basin,” characterised the Biden-era settlement as putting “misplaced considerations about local weather change” and “equitable therapy for fish” above nationwide power wants.
U.S. Vitality Secretary Chris Wright visited Ice Harbor Dam in December 2025, emphasizing the administration’s dedication to sustaining the dams. The 4 amenities present roughly 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric producing capability—sufficient to energy an estimated 2.5 million houses, in keeping with the administration.
“That’s an power subtraction coverage and the Trump administration, we’re about power addition,” Wright mentioned of the earlier administration’s method.
Federal companies are actually opposing the preliminary injunction, with the Division of Justice submitting briefs arguing towards the requested operational modifications.
What Occurs Subsequent
Decide Simon is expected to hear arguments on the preliminary injunction by February, with a ruling probably coming quickly after. If granted, the injunction might mandate vital modifications to river operations as early as this spring, affecting the 2026 juvenile salmon migration season.
For anglers and fishing communities, the stakes lengthen past the courtroom. The litigation’s final result will form river flows and fish passage situations for what scientists warn are already severely depleted runs. Trout Unlimited has known as the present scenario “a few of our worst returns on file for each salmon and steelhead.”
In the meantime, winter fishing on close by waters continues. Latest experiences from the South Fork of the Snake River point out productive fishing for resident trout utilizing midge and nymph patterns, providing a minimum of some solace for native anglers because the authorized battle unfolds.
The case, Nationwide Wildlife Federation v. Nationwide Marine Fisheries Service, has been ongoing for almost 25 years. Throughout that point, federal courts have declared unlawful six completely different federal dam administration plans, but companies haven’t produced operations that adequately defend salmon to plaintiffs’ satisfaction.
Because the January 22 deadline for briefs arrives, the Pacific Northwest as soon as once more finds itself at a crossroads—balancing the financial advantages of hydropower and navigation towards treaty obligations and the survival of fish populations which have sustained the area’s Indigenous peoples, ecosystems, and fishing communities for millennia.
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