A “historic” deal made two years ago between the U.S. government, four tribes, Northwest states and environmentalists to put legal battles aside and invest in restoring endangered Columbia River fish runs is now off.

President Donald Trump on June 12 signed a presidential memorandum withdrawing the U.S. government from a Dec. 14, 2023, agreement to help restore salmon, steelhead and other native fish being decimated by federal hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin. The memorandum refers to the commitments as “onerous,” “misguided” and as placing “concerns about climate change above the nation’s interests in reliable energy resources.”

The 2023 agreement was reached after decades of legal battles that pitted the federal government against four Lower Columbia River tribes and environmental groups backed by the states of Oregon and Washington.

Groups behind the suits said they would forge on, and legal battles will likely reopen.

“This move by the Trump administration to throw away five years’ worth of progress is shortsighted and reckless,” said Mitch Cutter, a salmon and energy strategist at the Idaho Conservation League, in a statement. “The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was a landmark achievement between the federal government, states, Tribes and salmon advocates to find solutions for salmon and stay out of the courtroom. Now, it’s gone thanks to the uninformed impulses of a disconnected administration that doesn’t understand the Pacific Northwest and the rivers and fish that make our region special.”

The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe were part of the deal. In negotiations, the tribes, along with the states of Oregon and Washington, are referred to as the “six sovereigns.”

Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement she would work with the states and tribes to evaluate their next moves.

“Extinction is not an option for these iconic fish, and we will do what we can to avoid that. This includes Oregon’s continued commitment to implement the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative that we crafted with our sovereign partners,” she said.

Shannon Wheeler, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe, said in a statement that Trump’s decision is a denial of the truth.

“This action tries to hide from the truth. The Nez Perce Tribe holds a duty to speak the truth for the salmon, and the truth is that extinction of salmon populations is happening now,” he said. “People across the Northwest know this, and people across the nation have supported us in a vision for preventing salmon extinction that would at the same time create a stronger and better future for the Northwest. This remains the shared vision of the states of Washington and Oregon, and the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Nez Perce tribes, as set out in our Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative.”

Groups representing utilities, farmers, ports and others who rely on Columbia River dams for power, moving goods and irrigation celebrated the executive order.

“As demand for electricity surges across the nation, preserving access to always-available energy resources like hydropower is absolutely crucial,” said Jim Matheson, CEO of the trade group National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, in a news release.

Columbia River fish nearing extinction

At the heart of the issue are four Snake River dams that provide irrigation and emissions-free hydropower for nearby communities but have also contributed to the near extinction of 13 salmon and steelhead populations that return to the Columbia Basin from the Pacific Ocean to spawn. The fish are important to tribal health and sovereignty and to basin ecosystems, and the declines are hitting southern resident orcas off the coasts of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon that rely on salmon for food and that are federally listed as endangered.

Environmental advocates, tribes and others have pushed to remove the four dams — Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite on the Snake River between Kennewick, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho — to help the fish, including filing lawsuits. Earthjustice, an environmental law group, has led litigation against five federal agencies, seeking changes to dam operations in the Columbia River Basin to help protect salmon.

The 2023 agreement, coupled with Biden-era climate and clean energy funding, was meant to pour more than $1 billion in new federal investments for wild fish restoration into the Columbia River Basin over the next decade, along with clean energy projects on tribal lands. It also included potentially breaching the four Snake River Dams to restore natural flows that could revive native salmon populations.

Earthjustice attorney Amanda Goodin said in a statement that they would not give up fighting in court to prevent salmon extinction in the Columbia River Basin.

“The Trump administration is turning its back on an unprecedented opportunity to support a thriving Columbia Basin — and ignoring the extinction crisis facing our salmon,” she said. “Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration.”