Page 10 - Flathead Beacon // 4.30.14

10 | APRIL 30, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Delegation Urges President to Make

Facts
Columbia River Treaty a Priority
FIGURES

Numbers in the news
Treaty helped build Libby

Dam and coordinates
80%
lood control, hydropower

production in the U.S. and
Percentage of U.S.
high school students Canada in the Columbia

who graduated, a new River Basin
milestone, according

to a report based on By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
Education Department
The Paciic Northwest Congressional
statistics from 2012.
delegation is urging the president to make
the Columbia River Treaty a top prior-
ity in 2014. Montana U.S. Sens. Jon Tes-
$3 million
ter and John Walsh and U.S. Rep. Steve

Daines all signed a letter sent to President
Funds being used by the Barack Obama on April 15 discussing the
importance of the international treaty
U.S. Justice Depart- that governs lood control and hydropow-
ment to help prosecute er production in the Columbia River Basin
crimes against women in the United States and Canada.
The Libby Dam was built in the 1970s as a result of the Columbia River Treaty. The dam is 422 feet tall and
The treaty was implemented in 1964 3,055 feet long. JUSTIN FRANZ | FLATHEAD BEACON
and provide services for
victims in the Bakken and led to the construction of four dams, “THIS IS AN ISSUE OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE FOR THE ENTIRE PACIFIC
three in British Columbia and one in the
oil-producing region of United States, the Libby Dam. The treaty NORTHWEST AS IT DIRECTLY AFFECTS OUR ECONOMY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND
western North Dakota has no expiration date, but it can be can- THE FLOOD CONTROL NEEDS OF COMMUNITIES ALONG MORE THAN 1,200 MILES
celed or changed beginning in 2024 with
and eastern Montana. at least a decade’s notice. For the last few OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.”
Local law enforcement years, agencies in the U.S. and Canada have
been studying the treaty and looking for and, since most of the water is stored in paid of the construction costs of the three
and tribal leaders have
called for more fed- ways to modernize it. Last December, the Canada, the U.S. paid $64.4 million to its dams in British Columbia. But in British
eral help in dealing with U.S. Entity ofered its recommendation to northern neighbor for 60 years of lood Columbia’s recommendation to its federal
the U.S. Department of State, which will control. Another part of the agreement government, the province argues that the
drugs and crime in the take the lead in negotiating with Canada.
called for a one-time payment equal to ongoing impacts to the Canadian Colum-
booming region.
“This is an issue of paramount impor- half of the downstream power generated bia Basin should be “acknowledged and
tance for the entire Paciic Northwest as it in the U.S. for 30 years. That payment of compensated for,” particularly the rec-
directly afects our economy, the environ- $254 million worth of electricity helped reational beneits reaped by the United
ment, and the lood control needs of com- Canada build its three treaty dams. That States.
33,568
munities along more than 1,200 miles of part of the agreement expired in 2003 and One point both sides do agree on is
the Columbia River and its tributaries,” since then the United States has deliv- modernizing the treaty to contend with
Departures and arrivals at the letter read.
ered a daily allotment of power to Canada, environmental concerns. Michael Cof-
Glacier Park International More than two-dozen senators and worth $222 million to $359 million annu- fey, spokesperson for U.S. Army Corps of
Airport in March, a 27.6 representatives from the Northwest ally, known as the Canadian Entitlement.
Engineers, said both countries want to do
signed the letter to President Obama.
The Canadian Entitlement could be- more to protect plants and animals in the
percent increase over a The treaty’s roots stem from the come a sticking point for negotiations be- basin and do more to prepare for issues
year prior.
loods that devastated the region before tween the two countries. The U.S. Entity, brought about by climate change.
the 1960s, including a 1948 lood that de- led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “The U.S. Department of State is now
stroyed the town of Vanport, Oregon, kill- and the Bonneville Power Administra- in the process of determining what steps
ing 50 people. The treaty resulted in dams tion, recommended lessening the entitle- to take,” Cofey said.
being built in both the U.S. and Canada
ment payments because it has already
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