News

The Council joins in mourning the loss of Ted Strong, Yakama Nation elder, leader, and former executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

Our resource policy analyst reviews the 2022 regional and national carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation, highlighting the current downward trend on emissions as coal plants retire.

At its January meeting, the Council was briefed on one of the Council’s longtime projects to reduce the impact of a key predator on migrating juvenile salmonids in the Columbia River Basin—northern pikeminnow.

At its December meeting, the Council heard from federal, state, and tribal representatives about their coordinated efforts to manage salmon harvest in the ocean and rivers.

The Council sent a letter on December 15 regarding the U.S. government commitments developed in partnership with tribes and states to restore wild salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin, including commitments to clean energy planning and production.

Increasing loads, a changing resource mix, and extreme weather events have become pressing challenges to the power system, highlighting the importance of broad system coordination.

In the last 10 years, the cormorant population has grown 1500% at Astoria Bridge, both accelerating erosion of the bridge and increasing salmon predation.

The mussels were first detected in the Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho in September during routine monitoring conducted by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, prompting officials to spring into action.

Kate Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Deschutes River Conservancy briefed the Council on the collaborative work to restore streamflow and improve water quality in the Deschutes River Basin.

In 2022, the Northwest saved 150 average megawatts of electricity, putting the region on track to meet its 2021 Regional Power Plan’s goals for cost-effective energy efficiency.