Today, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and The Conservation Angler, represented by attorneys at the Western Environmental Law Center, notified Tacoma Power the groups intend to challenge in court the utility’s failure to provide safe and effective downstream passage past three Cowlitz River dams for threatened salmon and steelhead. A 2002 Federal Energy Regulatory Council (FERC) license required the utility to achieve “95% survival or at least 75% with the best available technology” for fish migrating downstream after spawning in the Cowlitz River’s cold-water tributaries. This requirement was included in Tacoma Power’s FERC license by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to reduce these listed species’ risk of further population decline, and give them a chance to recover. After years of delay, the utility reported last year that from 2017-2023, mean fish passage rates were only 64% for steelhead, 65% for coho salmon, and 55% for Chinook salmon, in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
“Since time immemorial, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe has been an integral part of this region, stewarding and protecting its natural resources, especially the salmon that are vital to our culture and way of life,” said William Iyall, chairman of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. “Tacoma Power’s failure to meet the mandated fish passage survival rates threatens not only these species but the very essence of our heritage. We call upon Tacoma Power to fulfill its obligations and work in collaboration with us to ensure the future of these vital fish populations.”
Flowing from Mount Rainier glaciers, the Cowlitz River is important to the survival of salmon and steelhead in the Lower Columbia River. Dams have created migration challenges for salmon and steelhead throughout the Columbia River basin, yet many are required to meet the 95% downstream fish passage survival standard. Feasible methods to improve downstream fish passage survival are readily available and used with success at other facilities. Tacoma Power could modify the existing fish collection facility at the Cowlitz Falls Dam to make it more attractive to juvenile fish and begin collecting fish during the early or late stages of at least Chinook juvenile outmigration. In “trap and haul” fish passage, when more fish are collected, more fish survive. Second, a surface fish collector could be built downstream of the Cowlitz Falls Dam to collect juveniles that cannot enter the current collector. Third, Tacoma Power could install a surface collector on Lake Scanewa, or on the free-flowing Cowlitz before it enters that lake.
Over the past twenty years, millions of dollars have been spent restoring fish habitat above Cowlitz Falls Dam (not owned by Tacoma Power), particularly in the Cispus River, lower Yellowjacket, lower Kiona, Camp, and Hall creeks. The success of these restoration efforts and the resultant quality of life improvements for residents in these areas depends on fish actually making it that far upstream.
“Tacoma Power is way, way behind on a clear mandate set 25 years ago to achieve 95% fish passage survival at these dams,” said Marlyn Twitchell, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Tacoma Power has delayed taking action, ignored warnings and recommendations from state and federal fishery agencies and other fishery experts, and consequently is still far from meeting that standard.”
“It’s time for Tacoma Power to stop tinkering with failed experiments and start investing in serious solutions to meet fish passage survival requirements,” said John McMillan, president of The Conservation Angler. “The survival and recovery of Lower Columbia River steelhead, Chinook, and coho, as well as the recreational and Tribal fisheries they support, depend on it.”
Background:
The Cowlitz basin in Washington state was once one of the most productive salmon and steelhead watersheds in the Columbia basin due to its cold, clean water. The construction of three hydroelectric projects on the Cowlitz River in 1951 contributed to NMFS listing all four runs of salmonids on this stretch as threatened with extinction (steelhead in 1998, Chinook in 1999, chum salmon in 1999, and coho in 2005), primarily because the fish are blocked from upstream passage by dams (Mayfield Dam, Mossyrock Dam, and Cowlitz Falls Dam).
Tacoma Power collects outmigrating juvenile salmon and steelhead at the Cowlitz Falls Fish Collection Facility immediately downstream of Cowlitz Falls Dam. From there, the collected fish are trucked downstream and released at the base of Mayfield Dam. Juvenile fish that do not enter the fish collection facility pass through the turbines at Cowlitz Falls Dam and then enter Riffe Lake, where they either are eaten by predators or unable to pass Mossyrock Dam—the state’s tallest at 606 feet—where no juvenile bypass or collection systems exist to facilitate downstream migration.
Contacts:
Marlyn Twitchell, Western Environmental Law Center, 541-485-2471, ext. 144, gro.w1748174307alnre1748174307tsew@1748174307llehc1748174307tiwt1748174307
Rob Kirschner, Crag Law Center, 503-894-0439, gro.g1748174307arc@b1748174307or1748174307
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