Columbia Riverkeeper

Fighting fossil fuels - columbia riverkeeper has worked with tribal nations, local businesses, strong coalitions, and amazing people who live in river communities to defeat nearly every new fossil fuel infrastructure project on the columbia. This includes the worlds largest fracked gas to methanol refinery, the nations largest oil-by-rail shipping terminal, and the nations largest coal export terminal. Our work is not done. Highlights from columbia riverkeepers work in 2024 include:3 rejected long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction plans for oregons largest gas utilities, in favor of more aggressive plans to move away from fossil fuels. 4,900+ people spoke up for climate action using columbia riverkeepers petitions. 3 lawsuits brought by columbia riverkeeper to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in the pacific northwest.preventing new fossil fuel infrastructure is a critical task to protect our climate and clean water. If fossil fuel corporations build new infrastructureshipping terminals, pipelines, refineriesthey lock the region into decades of fossil fuel use at a time when we must rapidly move toward clean energy and fewer petrochemicals. In 2024, we continued to see more proposals to expand existing infrastructurelike pipelines, refineries, and waterfront-industrial terminalsrather than build new facilities. Why? Existing infrastructure typically has some of the required permits, and regulators often approve capacity expansions even where they might reject a new project. In this changing landscape, columbia riverkeeper worked with tribes, communities, and coalition partners to advocate for a just transition from fossil fuels. Columbia riverkeeper also dug deep on alleged climate solutions. Many fossil fuel industry players claim that renewable fuels are the answer to our problems. It turns out that not all renewable fuels advance climate action. Columbia riverkeeper is committed to uncovering greenwashing from corporations that value profits over actual environmental progress and fighting projects that will do more harm than good. Two prominent examples: next renewable fuels proposed non-conventional diesel refinery in columbia county, or, and the zenith oil-by-rail terminal in portland, or.columbia riverkeeper also worked in river communities to advocate for climate action at the state and local levels. In collaboration with community members, we continued to work with people across portland and vancouver to ensure implementation of progressive climate ordinances.

Cleaning up hanford -the columbia river runs along the hanford nuclear site, home to some of the most dangerous pollution on earth. A legacy of world war ii and the cold war, the federal government selected hanford as a top-secret site for the manhattan project, which called for enriching plutonium for nuclear weapons. The 586-square-mile hanford site rests on the ceded lands of multiple tribal nations. In 2024, riverkeeper worked in solidarity with the tribes and indigenous people who are leading the effort to hold the u.s. Government accountable for cleanup.columbia riverkeepers cleaning up hanford program is one of eternal hope. Working on a cleanup with no end in a single lifetime presents unique challenges that our team grapples with every day. Radioactive and toxic pollution from hanford threatens water quality, salmon and peoples health. Contamination from hanford still reaches the columbia river. Without effective cleanup, more pollution threatens to escape into the environment in the coming decades. In 2024, columbia riverkeeper used public pressure, grassroots organizing, and technical assessment of cleanup plans to advocate for thorough, timely cleanup. Highlights include:100+ people joined us at the hanford journey, an event planned and led by yakama nations hanford cleanup agency and columbia riverkeeper to draw attention to the critical importance of hanford nuclear site cleanup. 450+ members and supporters advocated for improvements to the u.s. Dept. Of energys proposed hanford nuclear site cleanup plans. 4 student representatives of the yakama nation participated in the state & tribal government working group meeting in new mexico, thanks to scholarships from columbia riverkeeper. In addition to hanford cleanup, the area is threatened by new nuclear energy proposals. Currently, the company x-energy is proposing to build small modular nuclear reactors (smnrs) adjacent to hanford near the columbia river. It has proposed and canceled plans to build in washington several times in recent years. The nuclear industry claims to be clean, but it is an extremely dirty technologybeginning with uranium mining, which decimates indigenous lands. Smnrs produce two- to 30-times the radioactive waste of older nuclear designs, waste for which we have no national repository. Any community that hosts a nuclear reactor will likely be saddled with its waste for the foreseeable future. This harm falls disproportionately on tribal nations and indigenous people. Columbia riverkeeper will continue to advocate for hanford clean and a just transition from fossil fuels that does not include smnrs.

Saving salmon - columbia riverkeeper works to protect salmon and salmon cultures by reducing pollution, protecting and restoring habitat, and advocating for dam removal. Salmon are iconic, but these fish are far more than a symbol. The columbia supports important subsistence, commercial, and recreational salmon fisheries. For many people, the columbias salmon provide paychecks, meals, a connection to place and family, and a way to mark the changing seasons. Columbia river salmon are also food for critically endangered southern resident orcas and other wildlife. Preventing extinction of columbia river salmon is necessary but insufficient. It is not enough for salmon to persist in small numbers, in isolated placesliving museums, so to speak. Our vision is a return to healthy, abundant, harvestable runs of salmon throughout the columbia river and its many tributaries. Basin-wide abundance will ensure that salmon continue to play their critical role in northwest ecosystems and that salmon cultures flourish for generations to come. Highlights from our work in 2024 include:decades of action culminated in the signing of the columbia river basin restoration agreement. 4 rejected water quality attainment plans for lower snake river dams, a critical step ensuring the federal government takes action to reduce heat pollution caused by the dams. 2 tribes and 6 fish advocacy groups partnering with columbia riverkeeper to sue the state of oregon for weakening protections for migratory fish like salmon, steelhead, and lamprey.given the threats to salmon, abundance may seem unrealistic. But salmon recovery on a large scale is possible. Conservation practices have led to remarkable increases in salmon in parts of the columbia basin like the hanford reach and the okanogan river. With this in mind, columbia riverkeepers saving salmon program continues to take aim at big goals.

Stopping pollution - people want to feed their families fish, but health advisories warn that many columbia river resident fish are too toxic to eat. The stark reality: thousands of pipes discharge pollution into the columbia and its tributaries. This pollution includes metals and toxic substances that make parts of the columbia unhealthy for fish and people. Pesticides and heavy metals enter the river from diffuse sources, such as agricultural runoff and air pollution. And pollution from former industrial sites also continues to leach into the river. We can do something about this longrunning environmental injustice. Columbia riverkeeper sues polluters, engages in pollution-permitting decisions, and advocates for laws that protect all people that rely on locally-caught fish. Like many basic human rights, our right to clean water requires constant and unwavering defense. Highlights from columbia riverkeepers work in 2024 include:5 clean water act lawsuits brought or settled in 2024. 2,100+ people called on the federal government to kickstart cleanup at bradford island and surrounding waters. $2.5 million awarded to tribes and nonprofit organizations as a result of our lawsuits.in 2024, columbia riverkeeper reduced toxic pollution in the columbia and its tributaries by identifying and stopping illegal pollution and advocating to government agencies for better toxic-reduction policies and community involvement.

Engaging communities -through the engaging communities program, columbia riverkeeper aims to connect people to the river and celebrate the diverse, vibrant cultures within river communities. This includes community events and programs along the river, as well as classroom and online education. Highlights from our work in 2024 include:230 water quality samples collected at columbia river beaches. 1,000+ students who experienced bilingual (english and spanish) environmental education. 1,400+ pounds of garbage collected at community cleanup events.in 2024, our team connected with thousands of people to educate and inspire the diverse communities throughout the columbia river basin to understand, care for, use, and take action to protect the columbia river, clean water, salmon and other species, and people who rely on locally caught fish. Through webinars and classroom visits, we amplified scientific research, including information on traditional ecological knowledge, to connect the public with science. We also shared and communicated new and existing research, and connected researchers with the public through webinars and communications outreach.beyond sharing the threats to clean water, we also encouraged active fishing and swimming in the columbia and tributaries by sharing information on fish advisories and collecting and sharing results from e. Coli data and harmful algal bloom monitoring (portland and the gorge). Through our water quality monitoring technician internship program, we also increase access to careers in science and environmental education through skilled learning and paid internships.lets remember the kids and the sheer joy of jumping in a cold river on a hot day. In 2024, we encouraged kids to have fun and get inspired by the columbia. Our team used the nichols natural area, located along the columbia river in the city of hood river, to create a high-quality and high-profile restoration and environmental education project, with a focus on education and stewardship that represents the people of the mid-columbia gorge.