McMorris Rodgers, Murray lead bipartisan group calling on Biden to prioritize new Columbia River Treaty By Orion Donovan-Smith, The Spokesman-Review
Published: June 29, 2021, 7:30pm
Share:
WASHINGTON A bipartisan group of 21 Northwest lawmakers called on President Joe Biden on Tuesday to prioritize a long-running effort to renegotiate a 60-year-old treaty that governs how the United States and Canada share the waters of the Columbia River Basin.
In a letter to Biden, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Sen. Patty Murray and Oregon Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio led the group urging the president to update the Columbia River Treaty and keep the region’s congressional delegation apprised of the negotiations. Efforts to revise the treaty, which was signed in 1961 and went into effect three years later, began in 2013 amid concerns over salmon runs, flood risk and electricity the U.S. sends to Canada under the accord.