Power bills. Irrigation. Fishing. All reasons to care about Columbia River Treaty talks

By Annette Cary

Tri-City Herald

The United States and Canada will begin negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty early in 2018, the Department of State announced.

The treaty, signed in 1964, provides the framework for flood control and coordinated hydropower generation on the 1,200-mile Columbia River, with some provisions set to expire in 2024.

The treaty also has contributed to other benefits, including supporting the river’s ecosystems, irrigation, municipal water use, industrial use, navigation and recreation, the State Department said.

“The Columbia River Treaty is of immense importance to the economy, environment and culture of Washington state and the Pacific Northwest,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,said on Friday.

It needs to be updated to address issues that have changed or come into play over the last 53 years, she said.

“The outcome of pending negotiations will have major impacts far into the future for families in my state and beyond,” she said.

Murray, along with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., have urged the federal government as early as 2014 to start to discuss the treaty with Canada. Starting in 2014 either country could move to end much of the treaty by giving 10 years notice.

The Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developed a regional recommendation calling for the U.S. government to make a decision by mid-2014 to proceed with a renegotiation of the treaty with a goal of completed negotiations by 2015.

The recommendation called for the historic focus of power generation and flood control to be expanded to also include ecosystem goals, such as stream flows with appropriate timing, quantity and water quality for salmon.

It also called for reconsideration of a deal that provides Canada with $250 million to $350 million a year worth of electrical power, which is more than the United States anticipated when the treaty was signed.

In exchange the United States gets flood control. The signing of the treaty was prompted by a 1948 flood that destroyed the city of Vanport, Ore., then the second largest in the state.

After a two-year review that started in November 2011, British Columbia said it wanted to continue the treaty and seek improvements within its existing framework.

Among improvements is recognition of the full range of benefits provided to the United States by the treaty and ongoing impacts to the Canadian Columbia Basin, according to the review’s conclusions.

All downstream benefits should be accounted for and the value shared equally among Canada and the United States, it said.