News and Updates

Spirit of the Waters Totem Journey tours the Pacific Northwest

From Idaho Rivers United  |  5/11/2022

The Orca totem is touring throughout the Northwest. Photo by Kurt Russo FORT HALL, IDAHO – A traveling Totem Pole is circulating around various stops in the Pacific Northwest this May through an Indigenous led effort to raise awareness for the movement to remove the Snake River dams and restore the salmon runs to health. […]

The Snake needs your help

From Trout Unlimited  |  4/22/2022

Lower Snake Dam Removal campaign is seeking applicants for the new Snake River Ambassador Program.

America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2022 Spotlights Rivers in Crisis Mode

From American Rivers  |  4/18/2022

Catastrophic drought. Disastrous floods. Fish and other freshwater species nearing extinction, as rivers heat up. Many people in the United States have imagined climate change as a problem in the future. But it is here now, and the primary way that each of us is experiencing climate change is through water. The climate crisis is […]

PG&E’s License Expires for Eel River Dams

From California Trout  |  4/18/2022

It’s the beginning of the end for the Eel River dams. On April 14, 2022, PG&E’s 50-year license for the Potter Valley Project dams expired and it will not be renewed. The company will soon begin the process of license surrender, decommissioning, and ultimately dam removal. This is an important first step in the long […]

Environmental, Fishing Groups Give Notice of Intent to Sue Pacific Gas and Electric to Minimize Harms to Salmon Until Eel River Dams Are Removed

From California Trout  |  4/18/2022

Eureka, California – A coalition of environmental and fishing groups has notified Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) that its two obsolete dams on the Eel River are violating the federal Endangered Species Act by harming federally protected salmon and steelhead. The five groups – Friends of the Eel River, California Trout, Trout Unlimited, Pacific Coast […]

CSPA Develops and Supports Changes to Hydropower Licensing

From California Sportfishing Protection Alliance  |  4/17/2022

CSPA has played a strong role over the last 12 months in developing and negotiating a package of proposed reforms to the Federal Power Act. The package will, if implemented, change a multitude of on-the-ground aspects of how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licenses hydroelectric projects. The package, with a short summary, was transmitted […]

Reframing Water Use in an Endless Drought Era

From Idaho Rivers United  |  4/17/2022

A dry landscape in the foothills of smoky Stanley, Idaho in September. © Tess McEnroe for IRU Drought, by its very definition, is an anomaly. A promise that this too shall pass. However, we must accept that this aridity is our new water era. We can no longer claim that we are in a prolonged […]

Supreme Court Reinstates Rules Limiting Clean Water Act Protections

From American Whitewater  |  4/14/2022

On April 6th, the Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit decision that limited the ability of states to protect rivers fron the harmful effects of hydropower dams under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The rules adopted by the prior adminstation limited information available to the states, the time for review, and the scope […]

Eel River Dams License Expires, Opening Long Road to Dam Removal

From American Whitewater  |  4/14/2022

Today marks the beginning of the end for two antiquated hydropower dams on the Eel River, one of the largest whitewater river systems in California. The federal license for Pacific Gas and Electric’s Potter Valley Project expires today, and the utility has decided that it no longer wants to own and operate the hydropower project. […]

Groups Seek to Improve the Hydropower Licensing Process, Restore Authority to Native American Tribes

From Hydropower Reform Coalition, American Rivers, American Whitewater, Idaho Rivers United, Friends of the River, New England FLOW, California Outdoors, Foothill Conservancy, National Hydropower Association, Skokomish Tribe, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Union of Concerned Scientists, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Gravity Renewables, Rye Development, Natel Energy, Nelson Energy  |  4/4/2022

Press Release Proposed package will support river conversation, hydropower development and expand authority for Tribal Nations Contact: LeRoy Coleman, National Hydropower Association, 202-413-4605 Amy Souers Kober, American Rivers, 503-708-1145 Washington, D.C. (April 4) – Conservation organizations, hydropower industry groups, and Tribes today sent a package to Congress and the White House to improve hydropower licensing, relicensing and license […]