CEO’s Message – August 2025

It’s Time to Listen to the People Who Know

On June 12 of this year, the White House announced that the Federal Government would be withdrawing from the 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement. This was the agreement that had been reached between the states of Washington and Oregon, 4 of the largest tribes in the region, local conservation organizations, and the Biden Administration regarding the Lower Snake River Dams.

The initial agreement and its recent reversal by the Trump administration are just the latest high-profile events in a 30-year controversy that has turned deeply political, which, in today’s climate, is just another word for adversarial. The conflict centers on the Columbia Basin hydropower system’s impact on fish passage and fish counts in the river. Both sides have gotten very good at providing facts, figures, and research that support their side of the argument. But facts, figures, and research can always be manipulated, and never really provide a pathway to solutions, but they do provide talking points for the media and activist organizations on both sides, as well as a ready-made script for good political theater for elected officials…again, on both sides.

This is a very complex issue, with no simple answers and a lot at stake. Any outcome, regardless of which side “wins,” will impact the lives of millions of people. And any sort of resolution will take a lot of difficult, detailed work by people on both sides sitting in a room together, not to mention honesty, transparency, conversations, compromise, creativity, and consensus. Sadly, none of those terms describes how our government has been functioning lately.

So…where do we go from here? First of all, I believe that the original memorandum of understanding reached in 2023 was not as bad as much of the backlash would have us believe (it contained no call to breach the dams). I also feel that the recent about-face imposed by the current administration is not as good for hydropower as many believe (it has effectively ended any meaningful conversation on the topic, which isn’t going away).

As the Public Power Council stated in their June 12 press release: “While the U.S. Government’s withdrawal from the 2023 agreement is a significant development, it also presents an opportunity to forge a responsible, balanced approach to energy and environmental planning in the years ahead. This includes proper and appropriate engagement of Northwest Utilities, treaty tribes, and other relevant stakeholders.”

I happen to agree with this position. There is good work being done right now by smart people – the relevant stakeholders and tribal representatives mentioned above, for example – who are solving problems, finding solutions, creating a path forward that both sides can walk together, outside the media spotlight, not accounted for on any political scoreboard. These are the people we should be listening to and supporting. These are the conversations that need to happen. Unfortunately, very few of these conversations and even fewer of the complex yet workable solutions being offered can be distilled down to a 10-second sound bite.

Best,
Scott Peters
CEO