SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Regulators are considering changes to the Columbia River Treaty with Canada to account for environmental concerns that weren’t addressed a half-century ago.
Policymakers on both sides of the border are considering a rewrite to address concerns over endangered salmon and climate change as well as recreation and irrigation uses of the river, The Spokesman-Review reported Thursday (http://is.gd/9pgcWA ).
The 1964 treaty resulted in three dams in British Columbia and the Libby Dam in Montana, boosting hydroelectric power production and reducing the threat of flooding in the river and its tributaries in the Northwest.
“Even though it’s not commonly known, the treaty really runs the lives of everyone in the Northwest,” said Suzanne Skinner, executive director of the Center for Environmental Law and Policy in Seattle. “It’s the fulcrum, or balancing point, for everything we want from the river.”
The treaty doesn’t have an expiration date, but either country can cancel most of its provisions after September 2024, with a 10-year minimum notice. If the U.S. or Canada wants changes, treaty talks could begin in 2014.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration are reviewing the 20-page treaty in consultation with other federal agencies, the four Northwest states and 15 tribes.
The BPA and corps will make a recommendation to the U.S. State Department by the fall of 2013 that could lead to treaty talks the next year.
“We’re trying to determine whether it’s in the U.S.’s best interest to continue, modify or terminate the treaty,” said Mike Hansen, a BPA spokesman.
In British Columbia, construction of the Duncan, Keenleyside and Mica dams flooded farms and displaced more than 2,000 residents. To compensate, the treaty gives Canada half of the benefit of downstream power production.
“They get a piece of the action,” Hansen said, and that energy is valued at $229 million to $335 million per year.
Canada’s cooperation helped reduce damage during the 1996 floods, which still caused $500?million in property damage in the Northwest, killed eight people in Oregon and came within inches of spilling over Portland’s seawalls, Hansen said.
As regulators evaluate the treaty, they’ll also look at how fish, wildlife and water quality are affected. Since the treaty was signed, 13 Pacific salmon stocks have received endangered species protection. The tribes want salmon addressed in the treaty.
“In 1964, no tribal rights were being enforced,” said Skinner, with the Center for Environmental Law and Policy. “There were few environmental laws and people were still dumping stuff directly into the river.”
Climate change also needs to be part of the discussion, she said. A warming climate is melting British Columbia’s glaciers, which feed the river’s headwaters, and diminishing mountain snowpacks in the Columbia Basin.
“It will be especially acute if we lose glaciers and water shortage becomes a bigger issue,” Skinner said.
Spokane residents can be part of the discussion during a listening session Monday in Airway Heights. Corps and BPA officials will give an overview of the treaty.
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Online:
www.crt2014-2024review.gov/
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
