End of 12/14 Agreement a win for PNW energy

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Last month, the Trump administration expressed its support for the Pacific Northwest hydroelectric system by cancelling the 12/14 agreement — a deal announced on Dec. 14, 2023, between the states of Oregon and Washington, several environmental groups, and several Northwest tribes.

Among other things, this agreement would have provided a pathway toward the removal of the Lower Snake River Dams. The Pacific Northwest relies on the electricity generated by those dams and others on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

The region also benefits from the flood control, navigable waterways, recreation, and agricultural irrigation those dams provide. Public power has been united behind the idea that unless there is a resource available to replace the reliable electricity generated by the Federal Columbia River Power System at the same or lower cost, dam breaching is not a good option.

When this deal was negotiated many of the groups who would have been the most affected were not even invited to give input. This was a deal agreed upon in the dark, and ironically, I think that’s where it may have led us.

So, what happens next? State and federal agencies are still holding meetings to measure what affect dam removal may have on their operations and the environmental groups that are pushing for dam breaching will undoubtedly re-engage through the courts.

This puts the debate over the dam’s future back to where we were before the 12/14 Agreement was reached. This creates uncertainty.

So even after what I consider to be a victory for our customers, the attempts by supporters of breaching to keep their efforts alive shows that public power must stay vigilant and be ready to talk about the negative impacts of removing hydro from our energy supply.

Your PUD and many in our industry have been and will remain engaged on this issue. It is important that we keep our customers informed about the policies that impact public power’s ability to provide clean, affordable, and reliable energy.

The cancellation of the 12/14 Agreement was a win for Pacific Northwest energy, because when outside interests want to make changes that can have a negative impact on power costs and reliability, we must be ready to defend a resource we have relied on for over 80 years.