Earlier this month, the prospect of substantial connectivity improvements to Oregon’s Willamette River came into focus with the enactment of a new law signed by then-President Joe Biden. The Legislation was the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, which authorizes projects to improve waterways all throughout the country. Relating to Willamette, the law directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to examine what the river system might look like without Hydropower rather than progressing with costly and inefficient fish passage infrastructure.
Flowing through northwest Oregon, the Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, terminating in Portland. Numerous species of endangered or threatened fish species inhabit the Willamette—mostly due to dam construction and urban development.
Thirteen dams scatter the Willamette, but at question are eight hydropower dams. Those dams do not possess effective and legally required fish passage structures for several species of endangered wildlife and operate at a significant financial loss–to the tune of “$700 million over 30 years” to the Corps. Once ProPublica made that inefficiency widely public, decision-makers and advocates took notice, and the pressure campaign to reimagine the Willamette River’s future took strong footing.
The Willamette River system dams produce just 1% of the region’s electricity—they are not efficient sources of power, considering their ecological toll. According to the OPB reporting, these dams produce electricity for 100,000 homes but cost five times greater than more efficient systems. Their primary function, however, is flood control, which can serve a valuable societal function…when done properly. For instance, if the up-damn reservoirs are maintained at capacity (mostly for recreational boating and other stillwater activities) they cannot handle the influx of water in a flood scenario. On the other hand, if river levels are managed to resemble those of a free-flowing river, the native ecology can recover, if not thrive, and allow for improved flood mitigation.
In addition to the new law directing a closer examination of the Willamette projects, a federal document relating to mitigating the harmful impacts on threatened and endangered species provides a blueprint for the actions to aid long-term recovery. However, this is not an explicit recovery plan or a mandate to remove the hydropower structures.
“The directive from Congress gives us all the chance to figure out what makes the most sense in the long term while the Biological Opinion requirements will hopefully help kickstart recovery in the near term,” said Jennifer Fairbrother, Legislative and Policy Director at The Native Fish Society. “It’s time the Corps lay out the full suite of options for recovering fish in the Willamette basin. This means assessing whether eliminating commercial hydropower production can save our fish and save northwest ratepayers money. Of course, given the Corps’ track record of flouting Congressional directives, we’re skeptical that the Corps will complete this analysis in anything resembling a meaningful timeframe, if ever.”
Time will tell what this study recommends for the Willamette, and what decision-makers ultimately decide on. One thing is for certain—progress is progress, and we are looking forward to what a more connected and free-flowing Willamette river system could mean for wild steelhead and salmon runs in Oregon.
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Oregon Governor Pens Support of Breaching the Four Lower Snake River Dams
If they really want to get serious about removing dams in the Willamette Valley, They’ll need to have hard conversations about moving buildings and structures anywhere between 1000 feet and one mile away from the river banks. I give it about 100 years as quickest it will happen.