Court ruling harms hydropower and Idaho electric rate payers | Opinion

In Idaho and across the Northwest, we are proving that we can have affordable, clean energy from hydropower and increase salmon populations. With those realities in mind, we feel compelled to respond to the recent piece entitled, “Time is running out for Idaho’s salmon. Speak up now, Gov. Little.”

The truth is that salmon returns to Idaho are higher since the Lower Snake River Dams went into operation. We know this because experts track adult returns at the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

According to publicly available information provided by the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, average salmon returns this century are higher at each of the four federal dams on the Snake River. Overall, fish returns have nearly tripled in the Columbia River System since federal dams were built.

A 2025 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that most ESA-listed populations were making progress in the Columbia River Basin despite declining ocean conditions — the environment in which salmon spend most of their lives. Other NOAA research has found that rising sea surface temperatures are among the most significant threats to salmon species that call the Columbia and Snake Rivers home.

When adult fish return to our rivers, they face increasing predation threats from birds, sea lions and other animals that choose to feast on the more than 1 million fish that return to the Columbia River on an annual basis.

Consumer-owned utility customers from Grangeville to Idaho Falls pay for one of the largest fish and wildlife programs on earth. Today, approximately 25% of BPA’s wholesale power costs fund salmon and wildlife mitigation on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Farmers, businesses and families have invested billions of dollars from around the region.

This investment over the past several decades has delivered. Each of the dams on the Snake River provides state-of-the-art fish passage, meeting or exceeding federal standards. Bypass facilities, fish barging and safer turbine technologies have been installed to support the safe passage of young fish heading out to the ocean. Survival of juvenile fish through these dams is comparable to that of undammed rivers on the west coast of North America.

Despite this documented progress and multiple other known threats to salmon and other fish, a federal judge recently ordered changes to our hydropower system. We agree with Gov. Brad Little that this recent court ruling will increase costs and reduce reliable electric service.

The dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers provide some of the most affordable and reliable electricity available. The judge’s order will increase those costs by reducing the amount of water available to flow through the turbines, thereby reducing electricity output and raising electricity costs in the region. The Bonneville Power Administration has begun recalculating its rates in response to the court ruling.

These price increases come at a time when rising costs are touching people across Idaho and the Northwest, and the judge’s order relies on experimental, unproven solutions that will continue to drive up costs for millions of people.

We want to increase salmon populations and ensure affordable, reliable energy. Independent community research shows that the vast majority of people across the Northwest support hydropower as an electric-generating resource on a bipartisan basis. In Idaho, 79% of residents support hydropower. Fewer than 1 in 4 people polled support breaching the dams on the Lower Snake River.

We can and should do better in our civic dialogue. Northwest RiverPartners and Idaho’s Community-Owned Utilities stand ready to work toward science-based solutions to advance our affordable, reliable hydropower system while continuing our important progress to increase salmon populations.

Will Hart is the executive director of the Idaho Consumer-Owned Utilities Association. Clark Mather is the executive director of Northwest RiverPartners.