The Columbia River, one of the largest rivers in British Columbia, crosses the border with the United States and flows into the Pacific in Oregon. Dams on both sides are governed by a treaty that is currently being renegotiated.
The Columbia River Basin is a major source of electricity, providing about 40% of the United States’ hydroelectric power, while British Columbia receives almost half of its electricity generation from the region.
These dams are also used for flood prevention to prevent a repeat of the massive floods of 1948, which killed 50 people and left 46,000 people homeless.
The treaty governing these dams was ratified in 1964; It describes the control of the river’s water flow and the benefits of this unexpected hydropower, as well as the tens of millions of dollars in revenue generated each year.
Renegotiations over the Columbia River Treaty have been ongoing for several years, and the potential agreement could have far-reaching consequences for the river’s flow and the people and wildlife that depend on it.
19th negotiating meeting in October
British Columbia’s chief negotiator Kathy Eichenberger says the Canadian government has set some key priorities, including maintaining greater flexibility in water flows across Canada and adding ecosystem aspects of the river as a third leg that would be based on power generation and flood control .
Negotiators held a series of discussion sessions and the 19th session will take place in Portland, Oregon in October. Certain provisions of the agreement expire in September 2024. After that date, Canada would be able to provide flood protection services to the United States.
We must take the time to improve a treaty that desperately needs renewal and include things like ecosystems, salmon, adaptive management and climate change […]. These are new concepts that were not covered in the original paper.
Americans have their own concerns about this revised treaty, as the value of hydropower may come primarily from Canada. This part of the authority is called Canadian law.
“We give Canada the output of a giant power plant every year,” Scott Simms, president of the Columbia River Treaty Power Group, told the Seattle Times in August. From a transactional perspective, it would almost be easier to transport wheelbarrows full of cash and drop it off at the Canadian border.
The ecosystem in balance
Kathy Eichenberger counters that Canada believes it can demonstrate that the revenue it receives represents half of the additional profit from electricity production. The way we manage flows in Canada actually increases capacity [des Américains] to produce more electricity to meet the needs of their citizens and industries. […] It is the basic principle of the contract to create a benefit and distribute it fairly.
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Duncan Dam in the Purcell Mountains was the first dam built under the Columbia River Treaty.
Photo: Government of British Columbia
Although ecosystems were not the focus of the treaty in the 1960s, it has always been the indigenous groups who are now part of the Canadian negotiating team. Fish stocks, especially salmon, are a major problem.
[Les saumons] are beyond important to our people, Chad Eneas, an elder in the Penticton Indigenous community, told Bob Keatin, an independent journalist who made a documentary called “The House.” “I think it’s important because it’s a keystone species in the world [fleuve] Columbia. »
Others still do not accept that they have lost land due to the construction of dams. Twin sisters Janet and Crystal Spicer grew up in Nakusp, British Columbia, in a family that farmed near the Arrow Lakes, part of the Columbia River system. The family lost their farm during the construction of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam in 1968.
This is all terribly thoughtless and irretrievable. That’s the problem: It can’t be recovered, says Janet Spicer. His sister adds: The farmland won’t come back, but people want a living river.
With information from Christian Paas-Lang and the show The House