Bpa

Salmon and steelhead are two of the great natural resources of the Columbia River. Their continued existence has been threatened by the construction of dams to capture a third great natural resource of the Columbia River, its water power. As these dams were constructed, the number of salmon and steelhead migrating up the Columbia River to reproduce at its headwaters dropped. At one time, an estimated ten to sixteen million adult fish returned to the Columbia River basin each year. Today, only about one million fish return for spawning that is essential to the species’ survival in the Columbia River system.

In response to declining salmon and steelhead runs, Congress passed the Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980. The Act created the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, an interstate compact agency, and directs the Council to prepare programs to protect and enhance the fish and wildlife of the Columbia River basin while also assuring the Pacific Northwest an adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable power supply. The Act also instructs the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that operates the dams on the Columbia River, to use its…