"PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon has ordered narrow changes to hydropower dam operations on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest in order to help salmon, saying the Trump administration’s plans for the massive structures would harm salmon runs that are “disappearing from the landscape.”
The ruling late Wednesday came in a decades-long legal effort by the states of Oregon and Washington, Native American tribes, and conservation and fishing groups to ensure better protections for migrating salmon, which are killed in large numbers by the dams.
In a landmark 2023 deal that paused the litigation in favor of finding long-term solutions, the Biden administration promised to spend $1 billion over a decade to help restore salmon while also boosting tribal clean energy projects.
But the Trump administration torpedoed that agreement last year, calling it “radical environmentalism” that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River, and the plaintiffs went back to court. The deal had been opposed by Republicans who said it would jeopardize the region’s power supply, irrigation and the ability to export grain to Asia."
Claire Rush and Gene Johnson report for the Associated Press February 26, 2026.
