A LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Summer is just around the corner, and we are all enjoying the return of the warm and sunny weather! However, the Department of Ecology has already declared a drought emergency throughout most of the state due to lower-than-normal snowpack and a forecast for a dry and warm spring and summer.

This is impacting farmers, communities and salmon that rely on cool and abundant flows in our rivers and streams for survival. Communities and farmers are working to mitigate the impacts this year, but we will all need to conserve water to lessen the impacts in late summer and early fall.

These conditions will likely happen more frequently due to climate change so we will also need to make changes to our water management practices to protect our water resources for future generations.

Warmly,

Trish Rolfe, Executive Director

trolfe@celp.org

Join us in telling the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):

It’s not clean energy if it destroys Tribal cultural resources.

CELP is proudly standing with the Yakama Nation and Columbia Riverkeeper as they work to ensure tribal sovereignty is respected and sacred lands protected. Yakama Nation sacred land, medicines, and traditions of Pushpum are under threat of destruction—all for a “clean energy” development that isn’t clean at all.

Here’s the truth. The proposed Goldendale Pumped Storage hydroelectric development is:

●       Destructive—Even the federal government acknowledges its impacts to cultural resources would be “significant” and “unavoidable.”

●       Expensive—$2.5 BILLION and rising.

●       Setting the Wrong Precedent—Egregiously eroding trust with Tribal governments and slowing down progress on clean energy goals.

●       Violating Tribal Treaty Rights— FERC released its environmental review without comprehensive Tribal consultation.

We won’t buy into greenwashing. If it harms Tribal Nations, it’s not green energy, it’s continuing this nation’s legacy of unjust energy development at the expense of Tribal Nations. Act Now. Tell FERC to respect Tribal sovereignty and deny the final permit for the Goldendale Pumped Storage development.

Thanks you to all who gave during Washington’s state-wide giving campaign, Give Big!

Your support means we have the resources to educate the public and speak to policymakers about the concerns of their constituents as we work toward stronger streamflow protections.

Ecology Files Water Rights Adjudication In Whatcom County Superior Court – Department of Ecology

Historic Agreement with the Federal Government and Arizona Gives Colorado River Indian Tribes Control Over Use of Their Water off Tribal Land – Inside Climate News

Statewide drought declared due to low snowpack and dry forecast – Washington Department of Ecology

Adjudi-what?! A comprehensive look at the state’s process to set water rights in the Nooksack basin – Bellingham Herald

Drought will put Yakima Basin irrigators to the test this summer– Yakima Herald

Washington farmers brace for summer drought – The Columbian