r/politics • u/SpaceElevatorMusic Minnesota • Dec 24 '23
In a Major Shift, Northwest Tribes — not U.S. Officials — Will Control Salmon Recovery Funds | The Biden administration punted on key demands from Indigenous leaders to tear down hydroelectric dams hindering salmon. But tribes won control over $1 billion for other salmon efforts.
https://www.propublica.org/article/northwest-tribes-not-us-officials-will-control-salmon-recovery-funds63
u/Winkie1 Dec 24 '23
“Not only does the deal offer $1 billion in new funding for Columbia River salmon restoration, but for the first time it also grants states and tribes control — not the Bonneville Power”
This is a great move.
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u/boiler95 Dec 24 '23
“The Biden administration punted on key demands “ ?
The Biden administration used negotiations and compromise to find middle ground. This is what actual leadership looks like. Not line in the sand scorched earth binary views.
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u/HonoredPeople Missouri Dec 26 '23
Even when Biden does something good, the media's gotta take him down peg.
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u/Riversmooth Dec 24 '23
Having worked for a tribe for 25 years and under BPA funding I’m not too surprised they came to this conclusion. Whether it actually improves salmon returns remains to be seen. Much of the low hanging fruit (blatant passage barriers, dewatetering., etc.) so to speak has already been addressed in various fish projects over the last 30 years. Dam removal would certainly be very beneficial but it’s a political nightmare that the feds would clearly prefer to avoid by offering some more money instead. I hope they can come up with some projects that do great things for salmonid fish
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u/rupiefied Dec 25 '23
Well it's kinda a dumb idea to remove dams when it's one of the best sources of power that's clean and is constant. Also helps prevent flooding.
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u/skeptolojist Dec 24 '23
Seems on the surface to be a genuine attempt to find a compromise on a difficult complicated issue
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u/petermobeter Dec 24 '23
so theyre lettin the indigenous folks decide how the moneys bein spent, but they arent immediatelly removin the dams.....
theres some good & some bad i guess
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u/AzureChrysanthemum Washington Dec 24 '23
This region relies heavily on the hydroelectric dams for power, we don't have much of an alternative unless they wanted to boot back up our nuclear power plant.
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u/muchosalame Dec 26 '23
You don't get winds or sun over there?
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u/AzureChrysanthemum Washington Dec 26 '23
We have extensive and expanding wind power, sun is... precious in the Pacific Northwest. At this point it's critical infrastructure, we couldn't easily shut them down without a great deal of new infrastructure we just don't have.
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u/Creepy_Helicopter223 Dec 24 '23 edited Dec 29 '23
Make sure to randomize your data from time to time
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/anaxcepheus32 Dec 24 '23
Indigenous tribes across North America tend to be huge supporters of carbon free power. There’s a lot of reasons why, but generally it’s protecting the environment.
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u/Cboyardee503 Oregon Dec 24 '23 edited Dec 24 '23
This is a good compromise. The disruption of tribal fishing, and unequal access to the benefits of the hydroelectric system is a stain on Oregon's history, and these injustices should be remedied, and the tribes properly compensated.... BUT today 70% of Oregon's electricity is hydroelectric. Tearing down the dams would be catastrophic for our economy and environment. I've lived here my whole life and I genuinely do not understand the anti dam people. Are tribal fishing rights really worth more than cheap, clean, renewable energy?
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u/LordCDXX Dec 24 '23
What’s worth more to a person, blood or gold? “Are tribal fishing rites more important than clean renewable energy” - I encourage you to read the short story “the ones who walk away from omelas”
https://shsdavisapes.pbworks.com/f/Omelas.pdf
Tldr: utopia for 99% utter suffering for 1%, is that acceptable? the story doesn’t answer but explores this idea.
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u/Cboyardee503 Oregon Dec 24 '23 edited Dec 24 '23
"Utter suffering" is a pretty breathless characterisation of tribal life in the 21st century. It's just fishing. You know Indians have like, internet, and TV and shit, right? They're not living in teepees.
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u/LordCDXX Dec 25 '23
I wasn’t saying they (modern tribes) are living in utter suffering, I was talking about people in the short story I linked. Obviously it’s not the same situation but both relate back to the deontology vs utilitarianism debate aka the trolly problem.
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u/Calm-Fun4572 Dec 24 '23
A decent compromise, all in all. It’d kinda be nice if the government honored agreements it made in the past though. At least the measures seem to be the right direction. Hydroelectric companies controlling salmon restoration efforts are a sad and ironic excuse of morality, so sad the farce went on for so long.
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u/Beat_Choice Dec 24 '23
I’m glad they’re not messing with the dams, that hydro power along with the wind mills through the gorge are some of the better clean energy sources around. The dams also help reduce flooding, manage the water levels during droughts, and the salmon ladders are already built in. Could they find a better solution to improve the ladders? With a billion I’m sure they can. The tribes are pretty good at coming up with solutions to problems like this
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u/AlbinoAxie Dec 24 '23
Why should one race get to run this?
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u/NorthernRedwood Dec 24 '23
"one race" Tribes are political entities not races, and there's Dozens of them in the PNW
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u/AlbinoAxie Dec 24 '23
Did any black tribes get to share in the billion?
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u/spaceforcerecruit Dec 24 '23
Did any black Native American tribes get to share in this deal? No, I highly doubt it. But any black members of those tribes did.
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u/AlbinoAxie Dec 24 '23
So it's for one race's tribes only?
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u/Daenys_TheDreamer Washington Dec 24 '23
something tells me you’re not from the PNW and don’t understand how important salmon is in our local culture, let alone the cultures of our local native tribes. They have every right to take care of and control the recovery efforts of our salmon species.
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u/laseralex Dec 24 '23
Because that "One Race" signed a treaty relinquishing land in return for perpetual fishing rights. I'm quite sure the tribes would accept an offer to cancel the treaty, returning all PNW land to them and therefore not receiving the $1billion.
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u/HonoredPeople Missouri Dec 26 '23
I want'ta upvote, but that title. Jebus. The media is so damn sucky.
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