Power Council Talks Amid Tribes’ Criticism Governors Are Just Being Flexible About Managing Rivers, Official Says

Northwest governors are acting in bad faith by studying other ways to govern the Columbia River system and its resources, leaders of tribes along the river said Wednesday.

“The tribes want to play straight. We are not merely posturing,” said Bruce Wynne, chairman of the Spokane Tribal Council. “Let’s stop playing politics and get on with getting our work done.”

But the head of the regional council that oversees the river’s power system said the governors are just trying to be flexible as the Northwest struggles to save its salmon, generate electricity, irrigate crops and float barges.

“The governors have tried to communicate that they are holding open their options,” said Stan Etchart, chairman of the Northwest Power Planning Council. “How can the governors commit to something that’s still in the formative stage?”

The flare-up between the tribes and the governors of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana punctuated a power council meeting that was dedicated primarily to talking about protecting salmon.

The council consists of eight members, two appointed by each of the four governors.

The power council was set up 18 years ago to work on many problems that no longer exist.

It was created in an era when people feared energy shortages; the region now has an excess of power but a shortage of fish.

A tentative proposal from the Three Sovereigns talks would set up a new body to govern the river system. It would have one member appointed by each of the four governors, four members chosen among the 13 tribes along the Columbia and Snake rivers, and one federal official.

The governors decided to use the power council meeting in Spokane to release their statement that they won’t necessarily be bound by the Three Sovereigns process.

The Three Sovereigns talks might come up with a workable plan for governing the river. But it might not, the governors said. So they’re ordering their staffs to study other options.

They will also talk to groups other than the tribes and the federal agencies, such as legislative leaders, the public and “stakeholders” - a term used to describe businesses and landowners along the river that rely on its water or electricity for their livelihoods.

Leaders of six tribes along the river said they realize it’s necessary to talk with the public and the stakeholders. But those talks will require the “trust and communication developed among the sovereigns” during the last year, they said.

The tribes were caught by surprise when word of the governors’ “Statement of Intention” was leaked two days ago. Neither the governors nor their staffs warned the tribes the statement was coming.

“These kind of things keep happening. They never ask us,” said Wynne.

The governors seem to be saying they need a strategy “to achieve the desired outcomes of special interests,” Wynne told the council. “Most of the controversy around (the process) arises from misunderstanding, misinformation and fear of the unknown.”

Etchart said the tribes should not be surprised the governors are studying other options. The governors’ statement was carefully written “to be sensitive to everyone’s concerns,” he said.

But Etchart acknowledged that tensions are running high in the region. The Northwest is trying to deal with federal mandates to save endangered salmon while maintaining a lifestyle that relies on the system of dams which kill many of those fish.

“Everybody up and down the river is feeling displaced,” he said.