Kennewick, Wash.
A federal judge has ordered more water spilled over Columbia and Snake River dams rather than being used to spin hydropower turbines to produce electricity.
Environmental and fishing advocates praised the Wednesday evening preliminary injunction decision by U.S. Judge Michael Simon, granting much of what plaintiffs had asked for in the decades-long lawsuit focused on dams and salmon survival.
“These emergency measures are a necessary stopgap to keep the fish alive while we continue to advocate for the removal of the lower Snake River dams and replacement of their services,” said Kayeloni Scott, executive director of the Columbia Snake River Campaign.
But the Public Power Council (PPC) and Eastern Washington interests who rely on the four Snake River dams in Eastern Washington were not celebrating.
“PPC is disappointed that the court adopted a sweeping operation injunction that will materially affect the region’s clean hydropower system and the millions of people who depend on it,” said Scott Simms, PPC’s executive director.
Water spills at Lower Granite Dam, one of the four dams on the lower Snake River in Eastern Washington. File Tri-City Herald
“The Columbia River system already operates under some of the post protective fish measures in the nation, and public power utilities have invested billions of dollars over decades to support salmon recovery while producing reliable and affordable electricity,” he said.
The federal lawsuit was on hold after the Biden administration reached an agreement to study dam removal on the Snake River while funding salmon recovery efforts and tribal renewable energy projects.
But the lawsuit resulted after President Donald Trump’s executive order in June 2025 that torpedoed the agreement.
The Biden administration agreement stopped short of a federal decision to remove the dams, but opponents of removing or breaching the lower Snake River dams called it a roadmap to breaching them.
‘Dams remain under attack’
“Our dams remain under attack,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., after the judge’s order. “… Once again, environmental activists are using judicial allies to threaten our hydroelectric system, which provides clean, baseload energy to millions in our region.”
He said that salmon and dams are coexisting and that he remains committed to ensuring the hydroelectric dams have the resources needed to improve fish passage while spilling less water over the dams.
The judge’s spill decision, along with lower reservoir levels, will have system-wide implications across the 465-navigation channel through eight lock and dam projects, according to the Inland Ports and Navigation Group.
Protesters march through downtown Tacoma to advocate for the removal of the Snake River dams in March 2022. Cheyenne Boone The News Tribune
Those lock and dam systems allow more than 60% of Washington wheat exports to be barged and the region to lead the nation in development strong international trade relationships, according to the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.
Barging is the most efficient and lowest-emission transportation option for Northwest agriculture and commerce because it reduces truck and rail congestion, enhances transportation safety and is most protective of the environment, the inland ports group said.
The court’s emergency order, while adopting most of the operational changes requested by the plaintiffs, did incorporate some reasonable operational approaches, according to the Public Power Council.
The judge ordered reservoir elevations in line with 2025 operating levels, which provide a larger operating range than the plaintiffs requested. And it adopted a summer spill regime at Ice Harbor Dam near the Tri-Cities proposed by the power council.
“These limited acknowledgements, however, do not offset the broader impacts this decision could have on the region’s power supply, transmission operations, greenhouse gas emissions and customer costs,” Simms said.
The power council argued in the case that the requested changes had no proven benefits to fish and would drive up electricity costs by $152 million to $169 million annually.
Salmon symbol of the West
However, the judge wrote in the preliminary injunction order that defendants in the case have raised the same arguments throughout the case that spilling will create various catastrophic results without those predictions coming to fruition.
“… (T)he court does not anticipate such calamities will ensue from the current spill order,” he said in a court document.
Four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River in Eastern Washington have been proposed to be removed or breached to improve salmon runs. Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association
“Given the seriousness of the harm facing the listed species, ensuring that reservoir levels are maintained in a manner that prioritizes the species is a reasonable request for preliminary relief,” he wrote.
He called salmon “one of the foundational symbols of the West, a critical recreational, cultural and economic driver for Western states, and the beating heart and guaranteed resources protected with several Native American tribes,” but said they are disappearing.
“This ruling affirms that federal agencies cannot continue business-as-usual dam operations while salmon slide toward extinction,” said Yakama Nation Chairman Gerald Lewis. “For the Yakama Nation, salmon are a treaty-protected resource, and the law requires meaningful action to prevent further harm and to ultimately see them recover.”
The court’s emergency order blocks implementation of the defendant’s proposed 2026 Fish Operations Plan, which would have reduced spilling well below the levels in the last decade, said the Yakima Nation.
“Increased spill and improved reservoir operations will help more young salmon survive this migration season,” said Jeremy Takala, chair of the Yakama Tribal Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee.
“When salmon populations are this low, every year matters. These protections are urgently needed and will make a real difference in the river.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 5:38 PM.
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