For the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set limits on oil and hot water pollution from four federal dams in the Lower Snake River. The EPA will now require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) to collect pollution samples, report data to the EPA and the public, and ratchet back on pollution, according to revised EPA final discharge permits issued Sept. 30. The permits go into effect April 1, 2022, according to the EPA.
“Dams that pollute will no longer get a free pass,” said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper. “The Army Corps’ dams spill dirty oil and heat up the rivers to unbearable temperatures for salmon. It’s long past time for the Army Corps to correct its illegal pollution problems.”
The permits issued cover the four Lower Snake River dams: Ice Harbor; Lower Monumental; Little Goose; and Lower Granite. The permits require the Army Corps to “implement temperature control strategies and meet the load allocations in the Columbia and Lower Snake Rivers Temperature TMDL.”
Reducing the dams’ temperature pollution could ultimately require reservoir drawdown and structural changes to the dams.
“We saw thousands of salmon dying in hot water again this year. Yet, the Army Corps did nothing to address the crisis that it created. These permits require the Army Corps to cool the rivers to protect salmon,” said VandenHeuvel.
As environmental law professor Michel Blumm explained in a recent article: “Considering salmon population trajectories and climate change trends, there is a very real possibility that imposing TMDL requirements on the Columbia Basin dams may represent the last best chance to restore Snake River salmon and trout runs before wild populations die out.”
“Hot water from the dams is killing fish and it’s killing jobs in our industry,” said Liz Hamilton, executive director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association. “The Army Corps needs to obey clean water laws and address this issue quickly before the salmon are gone.”
The Army Corps faced legal pressure to obtain pollution discharge permits. On Sept. 1, Columbia Riverkeeper sent the Army Corps a letter of intent to sue if the Army Corps did not obtain permits.
Columbia Riverkeeper first sued the Corps, which owns and operates the dams, in 2013 for illegally discharging pollution without a permit.
Commented