Please begin with our first article. Here in Part 2, we bring you additional information on the potential effects of dam breaching on the movement of wheat and other grains from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington farms to the Portland harbor for distribution worldwide. According to the Port of Portland, “The Portland harbor exports the largest volume of wheat in the United States” and “The Columbia River is the third largest grain exporting center in the world.”

In particular, this installment addresses omissions from the Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Study (CRSO EIS) and potential conflicts of interest identified by the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA).

CSRIA’s Who We Are page explains,

“The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA) represents many of Eastern Washington’s most prominent farming operations, with its members irrigating about 300,000 acres of prime row crop, vineyard, and orchard lands. The CSRIA works directly with its sister organization, the Eastern Oregon Irrigators Association, collectively bringing about 400,000 acres of irrigated lands into bountiful production.”

CSRIA 2024 Mission Statement:

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The CSRIA will “keep the water at the pumps,” and it will work to enhance access to new water supplies for its irrigation, industrial, and municipal members.

The CSRIA supports water resources projects that are economically sound and promote the direct interests of water right holders and the communities that serve our economic base.

The CSRIA supports stewardship and environmental benefits based on sound economic policies for water resources management.

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In a memo sent in September 2020 and addressed to CRSO Agencies EIS Managers and Interested Parties, CSRIA discusses the omission of options other than the complete breaching of the four dams, information on the need for an in-depth discussion of the impact this option would have on rail lines, and a potential conflict of interest in regard to the individual tasked with submitting the navigation and transportation impact portion of the EIS.

“The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its “Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the NEPA” dictate that a federal agency EIS [Environmental Impact Study] must include a review of relevant alternatives to the proposed action (preferred alternative) that manifest “reasonable courses of action… with information sufficient to permit a reasoned choice for the agency to evaluate…” While newly updated NEPA Regulations streamline review efficiency, alternatives to the proposed action must be identifiable with the “spectrum” of alternatives being analyzed.

The Final EIS contains no analytical review of Lower Snake River dam breaching/pool drawdown measures other than the complete, four-dam breaching alternative. Other potential hydro project alternatives affecting dam beaching or pool drawdowns are invisible and impossible to consider under the EIS review. The Final EIS presents a “worst case scenario,” avoiding a cogent picture of less disruptive hydro project measures that also could meet multiple project and ESA objectives.”

Specific to the irrigation aspect of the study, CSRIA concluded,

“The Final EIS irrigation sector impact analyses are impressively insufficient, lacking an experienced and fully engaged level of review.

From CSRIA’s perspective, the USBR [United States Bureau of Reclamation] placed little energy into assessing irrigation sector impacts on the Lower Snake River system, because they had no operational experience within the area, and they simply wanted to “get it done”…

The end result of the Final EIS is to underestimate the empirical and economic impacts to private sector irrigation projects along the Lower Snake-Upper McNary Pool river system.”

In the navigation-transportation arena, CSRIA is also very critical, saying,

“As with the irrigation sector, technical analyses for the navigation-transportation sector did not sufficiently commence until late in the EIS preparation process. Nor did this analysis receive much, if any, structured input from parties that had raised key technical concerns. The analysis problem focuses on an alternative rail route for grain shipments, where grain is no longer being shipped by river barge under a four-dam breaching operation.

The Draft EIS did not incorporate into its alternative rail route analyses operation of the main WATCO-Union Pacific rail line that borders the Lower-Snake (and Columbia) River system. This is a high-capacity line capable of moving increased grain volume.

The CSRIA has prepared two technical memorandums that outline the analyses problem, and that the omission of the alternative rail route in the TOM [Target Operating Model] analyses leaves a deceptive quality to the EIS analyses. …more effort was placed on avoiding the WATCO-Union Pacific route analysis than actually integrating it into the TOM analyses.”

The person listed as the primary author of the navigation-transportation section of the Draft EIS is Professor Eric Jessup, the Director of the Freight Policy Transportation Institute at Washington State University.

Although that is Jessup’s title at WSU, it was purported that he and another WSU professor were hired as “private sub-consultants” to write the navigation analysis for the EIS.

According to the CSRIA memo, Jessup wrote the following email to the Army Corps:

“Folks,
Based on interviews with the grain shippers and WATCO, the TOM model does not include the option to move grain from upland grain elevators to any river terminal via rail (similar to what has happened in the past using the Washington State Grain Train cars). The model does allow for these shipments to occur via truck, but according to WATCO the operating agreement with Union Pacific now makes this [rail transport] not possible.”

CSRIA says that just weeks later, representatives from WATCO and Union Pacific told them they had not ever been contacted by Jessup, and they had not spoken to anyone at the Army Corps or USBR either. CSRIA reports they told Jessup through email what WATCO and U.P. had said about never having spoken to him. Jessup never responded to CSRIA about WATCO and U.P. A month later, Jessup was asked for TOM model information and the role WSU had in preparing the analysis. Jessup’s response was to refer CSRIA to the Army Corps of Engineers.

As mentioned by CSRIA, Jessup’s WSU bio lists the Idaho Department of Transportation and the Idaho Wheat Commission as clients he has worked for as a consultant.

CSRIA’s memos conclude by saying,

“The navigation and transportation portion of the draft EIS is one of the most important sections in the document. The final EIS should rigorously analyze the impacts of breaching the Snake River dams on the movement of grain and other products downstream. Among the alternatives that the EIS should discuss are the transportation of grain by rail from Lewiston to Portland using the WATCO and U.P. lines. The TOM model — and more importantly, the narrative — should reflect the potential use of these lines to transport wheat if the dams were breached or if deep pool drawdowns were analyzed in the final EIS.

In my opinion, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the federal agencies to develop a new regional alternative with stakeholders and end 25 years of litigation in federal court if the final EIS does not contain a more thorough and transparent analysis of the navigation and transportation impacts.”

You can view the CSRIA memos in their entirety here:

CSRIA Policy Technical Memorandum

Idaho Dispatch has asked Professor Eric Jessup for clarification of his role in writing the EIS, communication with the rail companies, and his response to the CSRIA memorandum. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Tags: Agriculture, Army Corps of Engineers, Barging, Biden Administration, Colombia River, Columbia Basin Initiative, Columbia River, Crops, CRSO, CSRIA, Dam Breaching, Dams, EIS, Environment, Environmental Impact Study, Eric Jessup, Exports, Farming, Food prices, Hydroelectric power, Idaho, Idaho Department of Transportation, Idaho Wheat Commission, Irrigation, Jim Risch, Mike Simpson, Native American Tribes, Navigation, Nez Perce, Oregon, Port of Portland, Potatoes, Salmon, Shipping, Snake River, Steelhead, Target Operating Model, TOM, Transportation, Washington, Water, Water Rights, Wheat, Wheat Export

The post The Ramifications and Reality of Breaching the Dams of the Pacific Northwest – Part 2 – Idaho Dispatch appeared first on Idaho Grain Producers Association.

Idaho Dispatch brought you this article last December when the Biden Administration reached an agreement with Oregon, Washington, and four Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes. Now we will look back at the history and examine the myriad aspects of this topic which must be discussed and analyzed thoroughly. A short list to begin includes: the population and health of salmon, the irrigation/farming/water rights which will be affected, the financial impacts, the shipping and barging system, and hydroelectric power.

We start with history, legal aspects, a brief touching on the introduction to the salmon topic, and an introduction to the shipping and barging system. Each has far reaching effects on the PNW, as well as the entire nation. Future articles will discuss additional points of this multi-faceted issue.

A short explanation of the history of the discussion can be found in this paper titled, Irrigation Sector Economic Impacts on the Lower Snake River – Benchmark Review for Dam Breaching and Mitigation Costs. 

“The LSR [Lower Snake River] projects–Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor—were constructed during the 1962-1975 period. Since construction, about half of the projects’ operating life has been subjected to Endangered Species Act (ESA) litigation, with an initial ESA violation filing made by EarthJustice in 1992.

The Federal Courts have upheld several operating challenges levied by EarthJustice, representing about ten regional environmental and sport fishing groups, with support from others. Over the course of thirty years, project operations have been significantly altered to obtain survival improvements to migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead and returning adult fish. These changes have principally affected hydro power production, to increase flows over the spillways, as opposed to power production, as well as other operational and system changes.

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The project operations to date have not directly affected irrigation operations along the river. The irrigation pumping systems rely on stable reservoir levels created by the LSR dams, and portions of the Upper McNary Pool reaching into the tailrace of the Ice Harbor Dam. But things could change.

In 2016, U.S. Federal District (OR) Judge Michael Simon vacated the 2014 Biological Opinion for Columbia-Snake River hydro project operations, a centerpiece for fish protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). He accepted the argument by the state of Oregon, EarthJustice, and other plaintiffs that the Columbia River System Operation (CRSO) agencies had failed to include adequate operation measures to protect thirteen “listed” salmon and steelhead species from “risk of extinction.” In doing so, Judge Simon further ordered the CRSO agencies to prepare a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), that would become the technical foundation for a new Biological Opinion, changing hydro project operations. His order was very specific, in that he told the agencies to review in detail a Lower Snake River dam breaching/drawdown alternative.

The CRSO agencies completed the Final EIS in September 2020. It was immediately challenged by the BiOp litigation plaintiffs, EarthJustice, et al., the state of Oregon, and with Tribal support. Rather than file immediately in 2021 for injunctive relief, the plaintiffs agreed to pursue a litigation “stay” with the federal agencies (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation-Interior, and NOAA Fisheries). The stay period was to determine if a settlement agreement could be fashioned that would meet the plaintiffs’ dam breaching objective and still mitigate for major river system economic industries, the electric power production, Lower Snake River (LSR) barge navigation, and irrigation projects along the Ice Harbor-Upper McNary pools.

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Proceeding concurrently with the Federal EIS Process, the Washington State legislature approved funding for a stakeholder study to address issues associated with the possible removal of the four LSR dams. This study was supported by Gov. Inslee and Sen. Murray. Its two conclusions were: 1) the LSR dams should be breached to protect/restore salmon and steelhead recovery; and 2) dam breaching should be conditional on providing “replacement services” to the major industries being affected. Recognizing the technical deficiencies associated with the first study, the legislature authorized a second study to deal more thoroughly with the dam breaching proposition; during the 2023 legislative session, legislators and Gov. Jay Inslee approved funding for further state review of LSR dam breaching impacts to the irrigation sector.”

The full document can be found here for additional study.

Dam Breaching paper

Important to note from this article in August of 2022, in regard to one aspect of the salmon topic, the state of Idaho responded to a motion to stay the legal proceedings (a “stay” is a delay until a future date):

“Idaho, an intervenor-defendant, filed a response to the motion saying it does not oppose the stay, but does not agree with some of the statements in exhibits, including the actions related to reintroducing fish in the upper Columbia or Snake rivers that could enter Idaho without the state’s consent. The response noted that a state law prohibits introduction or reintroduction of any species into the state without approval from the state Legislature and governor. The response also said the state is opposed to any actions that lead to breaching the four lower Snake River dams but recognizes that breaching will be examined as a part of the process.”

The shipping and barging along the Columbia and Snake Rivers are significant to the farming exports of Idaho. This flier from the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association says,

“The Columbia Snake River System is one of the leading trade gateways in the United States. Over 8.6 million tons of cargo are moved by barge on the inland portion of the system, feeding the deep draft lower Columbia River which transported over 51 million tons of cargo in 2020. The Columbia Snake River System is the top wheat export gateway in the nation, second for soy and corn exports, and tops on the West Coast for autos, wood and mineral bulk exports. The inland and deep draft portions of the system work together to provide a vital link between U.S. growers and manufacturers with global customers.”

PNWA doc on barging

This article from Capital Press in Oregon adds,

“Barging would no longer be a viable transportation method…

“The dams hold back 80 to 100 feet of water, creating navigation pools deep enough to travel to Lewiston, Idaho,” said Rob Rich, vice president of marine services for Shaver Transportation Co., a tug and barge company.

“No dams, no locks, no depth of water, no barge transport,” Rich said.

“Without the Snake River dams, navigation would go only as far upstream as East Pasco and Burbank, Wash.,” he said. Rich estimates 650 to 700 barge loads of wheat originate on the Snake River each year. “Each barge carries 3,600 tons, or 120,000 bushels, of wheat,” Rich said.

“About 28% of Idaho’s wheat crop goes onto barges,” said Scott Corbitt, general manager of the Port of Lewiston, which is upstream from the four dams. “Loss of barging would increase grain shipping costs by 30 to 50 cents per bushel, or $70 million a year,” Corbitt estimated. “Those added costs would have to be absorbed by farmers.”

The impact to Idaho farmers is undeniable, which will also certainly affect food prices for consumers. This, as well as much more, must be considered as part of an honest discussion regarding the true effects of the dam breaching decision.

Feature photo of the McNary Dam courtesy of Tony Webster/Flickr, found in the article cited above.

Tags: Agriculture, Barging, Biden Administration, Brad Little, Colombia River, Columbia Basin Initiative, Columbia River, Crops, Dam Breaching, Dams, Environment, Exports, Farming, Food prices, Hydroelectric power, Idaho, Jay Inslee, Jim Risch, Mike Simpson, Native American Tribes, Nez Perce, Oregon, Potatoes, Salmon, Scott Bedke, Shipping, Snake River, Steelhead, Tina Kotek, Washington, Water, Water Rights, Wheat

The post The Ramifications and Reality of Breaching the Dams of the Pacific Northwest – Part 1 – Idaho Dispatch appeared first on Idaho Grain Producers Association.