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In response to the news organizations’ findings, Bonneville spokesperson Doug Johnson said in a statement that the agency and its federal partners “will continue to participate in regional discussions on long-term strategies to address the protection and enhancement of salmon and steelhead,” including the White House efforts. “Ultimately, the region as a whole must continue to advance collaborative solutions to meet the needs of the Pacific Northwest,” Johnson said. Two other federal agencies that work with Bonneville to manage the region’s dams, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, issued statements identical to Bonneville’s. In an interview, Johnson said the agency has had to contain its fish and wildlife spending at levels it could sustain. “The statutes direct Bonneville to operate in a business-like manner,” he said. “Like any other business, we monitor projects in our budgets and make appropriate adjustments as needed.” Columbia River salmon recovery is one of the most expensive endangered species efforts in the country, costing Bonneville more than $20 billion since it started in 1980. But while Bonneville’s net revenues have surpassed targets in the last few years, it flatlined or reduced budgets for fish recovery at a time when, according to salmon advocates, more money is needed than ever to prevent extinctions of more Northwest salmon populations.  Crystal Conant hands out frozen salmon to attendees at last year’s First Salmon Ceremony. Conant said because the salmon no longer swim at Kettle Falls, “There’s bits and pieces of all of our hearts that are missing.” Credit: Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OPB Proposals on the table, according to the White House and other participants in the talks, include breaching dams on the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington, funding the reintroduction of salmon into blocked areas and removing Bonneville from salmon management. “We cannot continue business as usual,” the White House memo said. But on each of those three issues, interviews and documents show, business as usual is what Bonneville has tried to preserve. Building to a CrisisThe Bonneville Power Administration began as a federal agency designed to run as a business. And, in many ways, that has never changed. The agency was created in 1937, when Pacific Northwest hydroelectric dam-building had just begun and federal officials spoke openly about sacrificing salmon runs for the sake of developing cities and farmland. Bonneville was the government’s way to market the dams’ hydropower and electrify the rural West.  A World War II-era poster for the Bonneville Power Administration promoting Columbia River power’s contribution to the war effort Credit: Bonneville Power Administration The successful harnessing of the Columbia for electricity became synonymous with American pride over settling the West and winning World War II. Massive flows of water rushed down through tunnels, spinning turbines and generating electricity that in turn powered homes and factories, most notably aluminum plants that manufactured bomber planes. Bonneville even hired Woody Guthrie to write folk songs about Uncle Sam putting the river to work for factories and farmers.
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Crystal Conant hands out frozen salmon to attendees at last year’s First Salmon Ceremony. Conant said because the salmon no longer swim at Kettle Falls, “There’s bits and pieces of all of our hearts that are missing.” Credit: Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OPB 
A World War II-era poster for the Bonneville Power Administration promoting Columbia River power’s contribution to the war effort Credit: Bonneville Power Administration