• Water

Clean energy, justice, and salmon: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the Northwest

• bipartisan
• Columbia River
• dams
• hydropower
• Infrastructure
• renewable energy
• restoration
• Salmon
• Snake River
• wilderness

By Bob Irvin, President and CEO, American Rivers A vision is emerging in the Pacific Northwest that would not only save iconic salmon, but boost clean energy and vital infrastructure, and honor treaties with Northwest tribes — revitalizing an entire region and building resilience in the face of climate change. Salmon in the Pacific Northwest […]

• Water

Klamath River Basin Plans Largest Dam Removal in American History

• dam
• hydroelectric
• Salmon
• wild salmon

Four dams are set to be removed from the Klamath River, finally restoring salmon to the river after decades of population decline. Eight dams were built on the Klamath River between 1900 and 1962 to generate hydroelectric power, decimating the salmon populations and disrupting the ways of life of Native tribes throughout Northern California and […]

• Land

Trump Administration Orders An About-Face on Pebble Mine

• Alaska
• Bristol Bay
• Native Alaskan Tribes
• Pebble Mine
• Salmon

On Monday in a highly unusual reversal, the Army Corps of Engineers issued a letter denying the permit application for the controversial Pebble Mine in Alaska. This comes after years of work and large expenditures by the Trump team to restart the development of the mine that President Obama rejected outright in 2014.

Why This Matters: This mine should never be built.  Ever. It puts at risk the single most valuable sustainable fishery in the world and puts two pristine national parks. 

• Food

Hold the Lox–That Salmon You Bought May Not Be What They Say It Is

• antibiotics
• Atlantic Salmon
• fish
• Food and Drug Administration
• mislabeled
• organic
• Salmon

Fraudulent fish is a more common problem than most people realize.  A lawsuit brought by the Organic Consumers Association alleges fish distributors Mowi Ducktrap and Mowi USA of deceptive marketing of smoked salmon sold under the brand Ducktrap River of Maine.

Why This Matters:  Many people are trying to cut back on meat — particularly during the COVID pandemic, when meatpacking plants closed, or worse, kept operating despite widespread transmission of the disease among workers at those facilities.

• Land

Biden Takes Strong Stance Opposing Pebble Mine and Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon

• Alaska
• Arizona
• Bristol Bay
• commercial fishery
• Grand Canyon
• mining
• National Park
• Salmon

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden over the weekend stated his strong opposition to two prominent mining projects –the Pebble Mine in Alaska and possible uranium mining adjacent to the Grand Canyon — with huge impacts on local economies and Native American communities nearby.

Why This Matters:  Biden understands the importance of both these pristine areas to ALL Americans, and especially their importance to Indigenous Americans.

• Ocean

Federal Court Rules Federal Government Cannot Allow Fish Farms in the Gulf of Mexico

• aquaculture
• fisheries
• fishing
• NOAA
• Salmon
• shrimp

This week two Republican-appointee federal judges overturned a Trump Administration-endorsed plan that would have allowed “up to 64 million pounds of seafood” to be produced in fish farms in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Why This Matters: Fish farming is happening all over the world — except here in the U.S.  Chances are the shrimp, salmon or tilapia you buy in the store is farm-raised in another country – more than 50% of the world’s supply of fish now comes from aquaculture.