Columbia Riverkeeper: Currents

Currents

The Victory Issue

Columbia Riverkeeper protects and restores the water quality of the Columbia River and all life connected to it, from the headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Staff

Simone Anter, Staff Attorney

Acasia Berry, Finance & Operations Director

Lorri Epstein, Water Quality Director

Ingrid Fuentes Espinoza, Comunidades Communications & Program Coordinator

Lauren Goldberg, Executive Director

Ubaldo Hernández, Senior Organizer

Miles Johnson, Senior Attorney

Emily Kao, Donor Relations Manager

Audrey Leonard, Staff Attorney

Juan Monje, Comunidades Community Organizer

Lisa Muñoz, Grants Manager

Kate Murphy, Community Organizer

Siobhán O’Halloran, Office Manager

Dianne Riley, Development Director

Dan Serres, Conservation Director

Alex Smith, Membership Specialist

Liz Terhaar, Communications & Marketing Director

Board of Directors

Rudy Salakory, President

Colleen Coleman, Vice President

Emily Washines, Secretary

Linda McLain, Treasurer

David Spurr

Karen Trusty

Brett VandenHeuvel

Ted Wolf

On the cover: Aerial photography by Paloma Ayala. This page: photo by Peter Marbach (petermarbach.com). Graphic Design by Melissa Delzio.

For the River

You accomplished incredible victories in 2022. From protecting vital salmon habitat in the Columbia River estuary to slashing toxic pollution to stopping climate-wreck ing fossil fuel infrastructure, you made an impact. In the following pages, our team breaks down a banner year of victories for our climate and clean water. Pause. Relish. Celebrate. We head into 2023 with momentum, and we set our sights high to tackle the pressing issues facing Columbia River communities.

With your continued partnership, we will: Restore Clean Water. We will use the law and grassroots organizing to ensure corpora tions and the federal government clean up toxic waste sites on the Columbia River. We will continue our water quality monitoring program at numerous swim beaches in the Portland area and Columbia River Gorge.

Fight Like Hell for Our Climate. For the fossil fuel industry, the Columbia River is the holy grail: rail, shipping, markets. For us, the Columbia is a home to communities who care about our climate and unite to fight back. In 2023, we will continue to challenge fossil fuel infrastructure while advocating for state and local actions to tackle the climate crisis.

Stop Salmon Extinction. I adopted a manatee in grade school—brilliant fundraising strategy, by the way—and received a postcard in return that noted, “Extinction is forever.” The cherished animals of the Columbia deserve the same dire warning. In 2023, we will continue to fight for salmon, steelhead, Southern Resident orcas, and the cultures that rely on them. We will advocate for dam removal and fish passage on the Columbia’s tributaries.

Inspire Kids to Care for the Columbia. In an increasingly virtual world, it’s our re sponsibility to inspire the next generation to love the Columbia. In 2022, over 400 students experienced hands-on environmental education. Oh the joy of in-person learning! We hope to double that number in 2023.

Stand in Solidarity with Tribal Nations to Protect Sacred Places. Yes, we will fight like hell for our climate, but we will not do so by perpetuating centuries of human and environmental injustices along the Columbia. For more than a decade, Columbia Riverkeeper has worked in solidarity with Yakama Nation to protect a site, Pushpum—a sacred place where there is an abundance of traditional foods and medicines and archaeo logical resources. We will continue to lend our legal and grassroots organizing acumen to advocate for clean energy that does not destroy the last remaining Indigenous sacred sites.

You power Columbia Riverkeeper’s vital work for clean water and our climate. Together, we will protect a place like no other, the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest, and a place I’m proud to call home. Onward!

Celebrate a Year of Victories

Toxic Cleanup

Court Victory Requires Weyerhaeuser to Slash Pollution

Climate Action

Legal Win Spurs Washington Port to Cut Toxic Pollution

Columbia Riverkeeper and the Port of Longview reached an agreement settling a Clean Water Act lawsuit against this major public port. In the set tlement, the Port of Longview agreed to make significant changes to reduce the amount of pollution that flows off the 835-acre port and into the Columbia River.

In response to a lawsuit brought by Columbia Riverkeeper, timber giant Weyerhaeuser agreed to make significant changes to reduce the amount of pollution that flows off its 260-acre facility in Longview, WA, and into the Columbia River.

Toxic Cleanup Site Elevated to National Priority List

In a huge victory for Columbia River Tribes and all people who rely on a clean Columbia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Bradford Island and surround ing waters of the Columbia River are officially added to the nation’s Superfund list.

Zenith Energy One Step Closer to Ending Oil-by-Rail

We celebrated a huge win in 2021 when the City of Portland denied a key permit for Zenith to operate its Portland, OR, oilby-rail terminal. Zenith sued. Columbia Riverkeeper and Willamette Riverkeeper inter vened in the lawsuit to defend Portland’s bold climate decision. While the case winds its way through the courts, Zenith made a big announcement in September: the company will transition its Portland facility out of crude oil storage to re newable fuels in five years.

Zenith’s proposal to phase out crude oil handling is the direct result of countless hours spent by Portlanders and others to protect our communities, air, and water from the dangers of fossil fuels. Until Zenith ends oil-by-rail, our work continues.

You crushed it! As a Columbia Riverkeeper member, you supported another year of epic victories for clean water, salmon, and our climate.

Fracked Gas-toMethanol Refinery Proposal’s Demise a Big Climate Win

It took grit and persever ance, but together we did it! In 2022, we finally declared victory over the last proposal to build a massive fracked gas-to-methanol refinery in the Pacific Northwest. Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) officially abandoned its proposal to build a refinery near Clatskanie, OR, in the Columbia River estuary.

Fracked Gas Power Plant Defeat a Victory for Our Climate

Together, we defeated a proposal to build a 415-megawatt fracked gas power plant near the Columbia River. This is a huge win for our communities and climate.

Progress for Salmon

Lewis River Fish Passage Back on Track

The Cowlitz Tribe, Yakama Nation, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, American Rivers, and Columbia Riverkeeper joined forces to ensure a bright future for salmon and steelhead in the Lewis River, an important trib utary of the Lower Columbia. The power company, PacifiCorp, was attempting to renege on its promise to build fish passage at two Lewis River dams that cut off access to important salmon spawning habitat. After our co alition brought science and legal arguments to bear, PacifiCorp agreed to work quickly to design and build adequate fish passage.

Lower Snake River Dam Removal Gains Momentum

Together, we are putting sig nificant pressure on Northwest leaders and the Biden Administration to remove these dams, restore salmon and orcas, honor Tribal rights, and replace the dams’ services. The Biden Administration com mitted to charting a “durable path forward” on this issue, and leaders from the State of Washington acknowledged that Snake River dam removal is the best way to prevent extinction. We still have a long road ahead, but we are gaining momentum. 

People Power

Defeating the Port Westward Fracked Gas-to-Methanol Refinery

Igrew up outside of Oregon City where my parents raised sheep, a project that often involved the whole family. I enjoyed the work of shearing, herding, trimming hooves, and raising lambs. Although this wasn’t our primary source of income, I gained an appreciation for the challeng es and dedicated work involved in farming. It also inspired me to work with farmers fighting to protect their livelihoods and our climate from fossil fuel develop ment. Imagining a pipeline cutting through my parents’ pasture, or a refinery hovering above their home and polluting local waterways, I could relate at least a little bit to the tenacity with which farmers have stared down so many fossil fuel proposals.

This year, we teamed with farmers and community members in the Columbia River estuary to celebrate another epic victory against the

fossil fuel industry. The proposed fracked gas-to-methanol refinery at Port Westward, near Clatskanie, OR, bit the dust, a sprawling facility that would have been one of the largest fracked gas-to-methanol refineries in the world.

Beginning in 2014, Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) proposed three massive fracked gas-to-methanol refineries in the Pacific Northwest. Community op position stopped each one—first in Tacoma in 2016, then in Kalama in 2021, and finally at Port Westward in 2022—a clean sweep of rejection for projects that would have emitted huge amounts of climate-changing pollution each year. The defeat of NWIW’s proposals marks a huge victory for tireless local advocates and a broad regional coalition opposed to new climate-wrecking fracked gas projects.

Inspired by the incredible farmers who continue to fight for their Port

Westward community, I penned a short “how-to” manual for defeating fracked gas infrastructure.

The people at Port Westward and throughout the Columbia River have battled some of the biggest dirty energy projects in the region, interrupting their busy lives caring for mint farms, blueberry fields, and farmers markets to stand up for productive soil, clean water, and a healthy community. They stopped dirty energy projects more fre quently than I sheared sheep. Even now, the farmers continue to push back on a new non-conventional

diesel refinery, a major threat to their water and livelihoods, and we continue to stand with them in that effort.

Local advocates’ deep connec tion to land, water, and commu nity enables the grinding effort of protecting these areas to continue. The joy and beauty people share with one another along the way— offering food, telling stories, sharing work, and building inspiration for a sustainable farming future for their community—demonstrates why these communities are worth fighting for. 

How-To Victory Manual

Step 1: Understand the project. We worked together to pry open company communica tions and regulatory documents, we learned that the methanol proposals on the Columbia were massive, de manding huge quantities of fracked gas, power, and water. Demystifying the project was a community effort, with local residents often leading research on their own.

Step 2: Share knowledge, coordinate action. The Port Westward area is rural and diverse, with a monastery, farms, and residents very close to the area where the methanol refinery was proposed. For years, local residents and farmers worked to educate and empower their community in diverse ways—raising funds for legal appeals, conducting research, giving presentations, hosting outdoor events, and publishing

mailers that educated people about why Port Westward

protection.

Step 3: Stand in solidarity. By having a long engagement in resisting liquified natural gas, coal, oil, and other fossil fuel schemes at Port Westward, people in the com munity grew to know one another and foster connections with others in the Lower Columbia who had faced similar challenges. Having fought together before, we had a stronger foundation for standing up to the methanol refinery. We learned and shared knowledge with others. Often testifying together in support of one another, our strategy and action made a big difference. Spanning years, community soli darity amplified the efforts of each small community, including Port Westward and Kalama.

The people at Port Westward have battled some of the biggest dirty energy projects in the region, standing up for productive soil, clean water, and a healthy community.

deserves

Columbia Riverkeeper in Your Newsfeed

Riverkeeper settles with timber company Weyerhaeuser for $600,000 after water quality violations

The Daily News

“People rely on the Columbia for clean water and strong salmon runs. No corporation, including Weyerhaeuser, has the right to flout the law and pollute this irreplace able river. The requirements of this agreement will see significant steps to reduce pollution at this massive facility.”

When there’s an issue that pops up about the Columbia River, Columbia Riverkeeper is one of the first calls reporters make. We are a trusted source because we value honesty and integrity. Communicating complex scientific, and legal ideas can be a chal lenge. Our team is always looking for new and interesting ways to tell compelling stories that inspire action to protect clean water and our climate. For example, we built an interactive story map pub lished in English and Spanish teaching the public about Hanford cleanup in a visually digestible website for students. To reach Latino/a/x/e communities, Senior Organizer Ubaldo Hernández hosts Conoce Tu Columbia, a bilingual radio show and podcast. To drive interest about water quality and toxics, we host webinars to reach new audiences online.

Our promise: keep you up to speed on the issues facing the Columbia River and surrounding communities. In 2022, news media across the Pacific Northwest and the country featured Columbia Riverkeeper’s work a whopping 750 times. The story of the Columbia River doesn’t stop with us. Thank you for being a part of those stories by sharing them with your friends and family as we keep these issues alive and front of mind. Here is a look at our work in 2022 through the media lens.

Riverkeeper, Youth Corps partner for conservation work

Columbia Gorge News

“Over the years, these crews have done a lot of hard work at the (Nichols Natural Area) site, but beyond the physical work at the site, I want students to take away an un derstanding of the important role of riparian habitats, and I also hope they build their own personal con nection to this place and the river.”

Contaminated island at Bonneville Dam added to Superfund cleanup list The Oregonian

“This is a huge victory for people that rely on a clean Columbia. With a Superfund listing, we can finally tackle the pollu tion problem.”

Lauren Goldberg, Executive Director

Radio station shares bilingual news with Gorge farmworkers Public News Service

“Its purpose is to reach out to this community and talk about envi ronmental and social issues that happen in our communities, and for them to understand how climate change or environmental crisis affects our communities.”

Ubaldo Hernández, Senior Organizer

Interactive story explores Hanford pollution NBC News

“Hanford is a multi-generational cleanup effort, and youth involve ment is critical to decision making.”

Lisa Muñoz, Grants Manager

Other views: Will Oregon leaders stand up for environmental justice? East Oregonian

“The scientific community is united in the call to reduce fossil fuel emissions in order to prevent the worst outcomes from a crisis unpar alleled in human history. Without urgent action, we are on a course toward unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms and widespread water shortages, as well as the re sultant political and social upheaval from an increasingly uninhabitable world.”

Kate Murphy, Community Organizer

Gas power plant loses site certificate Coast Radio

“If built, the facility would have been one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in Oregon. Over its 30-year life cycle, the plant would have emitted at least 30 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution, which means it also would have locked the state into 30 more years of reliance on fracked gas.”

Audrey Leonard, Staff Attorney

Washington state leaders offer incremental progress toward one day removing Snake River dams KGW News

“So this is a form of progress… You know, five years ago, no politician in the Pacific Northwest would say ‘Snake River dam removal’ out loud.”

Miles Johnson, Senior Attorney

The NEXT big thing? Oregon Business

“I think you’d have to call Houstonbased NEXT a questionable company at this point, with un trustworthy backers through the years. And it takes a lot of trust in a community like that to believe that you can build something like this without fundamentally transforming the whole area.”

Dan Serres, Conservation Director 

For full coverage on this story visit columbiariverkeeper.org/media/news or scan the QR code.

Anatomy of a Victory

The Fall of a Proposed Fracked Gas Power Plant in Eastern Oregon

This August, Perennial Power Holdings LLC quietly asked the State of Oregon to terminate a permit for a fracked gas power plant proposed near Hermiston. Perennial had barely broken ground on its facility, despite getting a permit back in 2015. Let’s take a look at how you, Columbia Riverkeeper, and our allies kept this fracked gas power plant from spewing pollution into our air and damaging our climate.

First and foremost, you spoke up and took action! Thousands of people signed comment letters and repeatedly told the State of Oregon that Perennial—and fracked gas— should not be part of our energy future. This groundswell of opposi tion kept Oregon’s elected leaders accountable and kept the pressure on the company and regulators.

Columbia Riverkeeper shone a spotlight on poor government

oversight. When the Oregon Department of Energy bent its own rules to keep Perennial’s project alive (and allow the company to avoid paying Oregon millions of dollars for greenhouse gas mitiga tion), Columbia Riverkeeper helped break the story in an important Oregon Public Broadcasting story.

We also challenged Perennial’s misguided fossil fuel proposal in court. Columbia Riverkeeper and Friends of the Columbia Gorge, represented by in-house counsel as well as Crag Law Center and Karl Anuta, sued the Oregon Department of Energy for illegal ly extending Perennial’s permit. Columbia Riverkeeper, represented by in-house counsel and the law firm Kampmeier and Knutsen, also sued Perennial for illegally begin ning road construction without nec essary Clean Water Act permits.

The Perennial fracked gas power plant victory was also a result

of our region’s broader transi tion away from fossil fuels and toward more renewable sources of energy, which is being driven by so many people, businesses, and organizations. Clean, renewable sources of energy like wind and solar—coupled with tougher reg ulations on fossil fuels—have fun damentally changed the energy market in the Pacific Northwest. In the eight years after receiving a permit, Perennial could never find a buyer for electricity made by burning fracked gas.

What does it all mean for Oregon and our climate? We’ve defeated what would have been one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in Oregon. Over its 30-year lifecycle, the Perennial plant would have emitted at least 30 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution. This fracked gas plant also would have emitted up to 59 tons of particulate matter, 19

tons of sulfur dioxide, 111 tons of nitrogen oxides, 213 tons of carbon monoxide, 34 tons of volatile organic compounds, and six tons of sulfuric acid mist every year. Whether you are concerned about Oregon meeting its climate goals, air quality in Hermiston, or both, this is a big deal.

Finally, the cancellation of Perennial’s permit marks the be ginning of a new era of energy production in Oregon. A law that took effect in September 2021 bans new and expanded power plants that burn natural gas or other fossil fuels in Oregon; Perennial’s permit was the last remaining gas-fired power plant permitted under the old law. Defeating Perennial means that Oregon can now turn toward building a clean, renewable future. 

This groundswell of opposition kept Oregon’s elected leaders accountable and kept the pressure on the company and regulators.

2022

Columbia Riverkeeper

Our Mission

To protect and restore the water quality of the Columbia River and all life connected to it, from the headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Our Vision

A Columbia River that unites people to fight for clean water, abundant fish and wildlife, and our climate.

Our Commitment Embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level of our work. Communities are the backbone of what we do. As an organization that advocates for the health and safety of river communities, we must fight for social justice and take a stand against racism.

Your Impact in the Last Year

Fighting Fossil Fuels

30 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution prevented by defeating the Perennial gas power plant

3 State Attorney Generals (Washington, Oregon, and California) announced opposition to the GTN Gas Pipeline expansion project on the heels of advocacy by Columbia Riverkeeper and our partners

0 fracked gas-to-methanol refineries proposed in the Pacific Northwest after the defeat of Northwest Innovation Works’ third, and final, proposal to site a refinery near Clatskanie, OR

4th largest city in Washington State, Vancouver, adopted a ban on new, large fossil fuel terminals after years of community organizing by Columbia Riverkeeper and our partners

Engaging Communities

238 water quality samples collected at Columbia River beaches

400 students who experienced bilingual (English and Spanish) environmental education through Columbia Riverkeeper’s outreach program

24 “Conoce tu Columbia” bilingual (Spanish/English) podcasts and radio shows produced by Columbia Riverkeeper

Saving Salmon

2 dams on the Lewis River, an important Columbia tributary, where PacifiCorp must build fish passage for salmon, steelhead, and bull trout because of pressure from Tribes and allies

837 acres of prime farmland and salmon habitat protected when Columbia Riverkeeper won a legal challenge opposing the Port of Columbia County’s rezone proposal

71 business joined Columbia Riverkeeper’s letter to Oregon elected officials asking them to support removing the four Lower Snake River dams

Cleaning Up Hanford

200+ people participated in the 2022 Hanford Journey, a day-long event along the Columbia’s shores co-sponsored by Yakama Nation and Columbia Riverkeeper

1000+ Columbia Riverkeeper members and supporters advocated for improvements to the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s proposed Hanford Nuclear Site cleanup plans

Stopping Pollution

75,000 pounds of illegal toxic pollution prevented by Columbia Riverkeeper’s Clean Water Act lawsuits

$2.5+ million polluters paid in penalties to nonprofit organizations as a result of our lawsuit settlements

Celebrating Our Members and Volunteers

You show up at public hearings to demand climate action. You advocate for clean water and strong salmon runs. You give generously. The team at Columbia Riverkeeper reflects on several of the thousands of members who inspire us.

“Cathryn Chudy is an orga nizing and advocacy powerhouse for her Vancouver community. Along with so many other local leaders, she presses the case for Vancouver becoming a leader in equitable climate action. It’s been an honor working with Cathryn on so many fronts, and she played a major role not only in stopping an oil train terminal, but also continuing the effort to persuade the Vancouver City Council to establish a perma nent ban on new major fossil fuel terminals in Vancouver.”

— Kate Murphy, Community Organizer

“

“Dave Berger has been one of the strongest supporters of the Nichols Natural Area Project since day one. We truly could not have reached all the thousands of students we’ve provided pro gramming for without Dave’s help. He’s volunteered countless hours, and our community is the lucky beneficiary of his deep dedication to education and activism.”

— Lorri Epstein, Water Quality Director

“When 2022 started, the Port Westward community faced a huge conversion of land to industrial uses and a major methanol proposal—both of which failed in recent months. Now local advocates are pushing back on a proposed refinery by making videos, testifying at hearings, and exposing the po tential pollution of the proposed refinery at Port Westward. These people fight for what they love, and their impact extends far beyond Port Westward. And they grow healthy food along the way!” — Dan Serres, Conservation Director 

Shelley Cimon is a treasure of information about Hanford, and she represented Columbia Riverkeeper for years on the Hanford Advisory Board with no compensation other than our gratitude. She has been a patient, kind, and thoughtful educator of the next generation of Hanford watchdogs (I count myself among them). I am so grateful to Shelley for helping me to see not only the harm that nuclear weapons production wrought at Hanford, but also the beauty and potential of Hanford to sustain future generations with clean water, healthy fish runs, and a free-flowing Columbia.”

— Simone Anter, Staff Attorney

Top left: Cathryn Chudy testifies at a public hearing. Photo by The Columbian.

Top Right: Volunteer Dave Berger, Senior Community Organizer Ubaldo Hernández, and Water Quality Director Lorri Epstein at the Nichols Natural Area. Photo by Jamie Lyn Photography.

Members Step Up to Leave a Legacy

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Your Support Makes Our Work Possible!

More and more Columbia Riverkeeper supporters are adding the organization to their wills. Why? Columbia Riverkeeper is here for the long haul to fight for clean water and your values. You have a strong connection to the river and you want to continue to protect it. Including a bequest of any size is a powerful gift to future generations.

You can support family first and earmark a comfortable amount to a nonprofit. Please email or call Development Director Dianne Riley (dianne@columbiariverkeeper.org or 541-399-3260) so we can help support your decision to protect clean water and the Columbia’s iconic salmon for future generations.

We Fight for What You Love—and Win

Columbia Riverkeeper earned the highest ratings for top charity guides

Charity Navigator is America’s premier independent charity evaluator. Columbia Riverkeeper received 4/4 stars.

Candid specializes in providing information about non-profits.

Columbia Riverkeeper earned a 2022 Platinum Seal of Transparency.

Members Power Victories