Mid-Columbia PUDs, feds settle lawsuit over river treaty issues
Utilities cited uncertainties over U.S., Canada agreement reached in 2024.
Updated
Grant PUD's Wanapum Dam is one of the hydropower facilities on the Columbia River, which is the subject of an international treaty between the U.S. and Canada for electrical generation and flood control. Grant PUD photo
EPHRATA — The public utility districts of Chelan, Douglas, and Grant counties last month announced their approval of a settlement agreement with the federal government in a legal dispute over water management entitlement and benefits under the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada.
In the 1960s, the two nations agreed to work together on flood control and hydropower generation from Columbia River flows which originate in Canada and enter the U.S. through Washington state before eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean. Apart from Canadian storage dams, the three public utility districts have the only non-federally controlled dams on the 1,200-mile river.
The mid-Columbia PUDs were allowed improved flows in exchange for supplying 27.5% of the power that the U.S. was obligated to return to Canada. The remaining power supply was provided by the federal Bonneville Power Administration.
Talks to modernize the decades-old treaty started in May 2018. Most of the original provisions expired in 2024. But that July, the two countries announced a 20-year “agreement in principle,” or AIP, on key elements for an updated treaty.
However, uncertainty and lack of clarity about the provisions remained for the three utility districts, which stopped payments for the “Canadian Entitlement” when their existing contracts ended in September 2024. In June 2024, the PUDs sued BPA and other federal agencies in U.S. District Court in Spokane. In counterclaims, the U.S. government asserted that the PUDs could not use treaty-related stream flows without contributing to the “CE.”
Scheduled for a non-jury trial in January 2027, the case was dismissed Oct. 1.
With the new settlement, the mid-Columbia PUDs have agreed to pay for 25% of the reduced “Canadian Entitlement” obligations announced by the two nations in their AIP.
Additionally, the utility districts agreed to make a one-time payment of $29.9 million for unpaid contributions dating back to September 2024 through May of this year, plus an additional amount based on calculations from this June to when the agreement becomes effective. The parties also agreed to “improve water and energy planning, information sharing, and energy emergency operations.”
Those provisions were announced Sept. 25 in a joint statement from general managers Kirk Hudson (Chelan PUD), Gary Ivory (Douglas PUD), and John Mertlich (Grant PUD).
“Bringing this matter to a conclusion is a positive step for the Mid-Columbia region. While the legal process was necessary to resolve important questions, we are pleased to see the parties reach an agreement that allows us to move forward,” the three general managers said.
“Chelan, Douglas and Grant PUDs have a long history of working collaboratively on issues that affect our customers, our communities and the Columbia River system. Just as importantly, a strong and constructive relationship between the Mid-Columbia PUDs and the Bonneville Power Administration is essential to the long-term interests of our region,” the statement said.
In a November 2024 statement, then-Grant PUD general manager Rich Wallen said the decision to sue the federal agencies “didn’t come lightly.”
Citing calculations from hydropower industry experts, Wallen said it was believed that federal and PUD dams had been sending electricity benefits valued about 90% higher than the value received through coordinated operations and increased generation. That disparity, he said, was a collective annual overpayment to Canada estimated at $500 million.
“This overpayment means we have fewer resources for our own customers at a time when demand for electricity, especially here in Grant County, is forecasted to increase substantially,” said Wallen.
The U.S. District Court case number is 2:24-cv-0204-tor.
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Mid-Columbia PUDs, feds settle lawsuit over river treaty issues
Utilities cited uncertainties over U.S., Canada agreement reached in 2024.
EPHRATA — The public utility districts of Chelan, Douglas, and Grant counties last month announced their approval of a settlement agreement with the federal government in a legal dispute over water management entitlement and benefits under the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada.
In the 1960s, the two nations agreed to work together on flood control and hydropower generation from Columbia River flows which originate in Canada and enter the U.S. through Washington state before eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean. Apart from Canadian storage dams, the three public utility districts have the only non-federally controlled dams on the 1,200-mile river.
The mid-Columbia PUDs were allowed improved flows in exchange for supplying 27.5% of the power that the U.S. was obligated to return to Canada. The remaining power supply was provided by the federal Bonneville Power Administration.
Talks to modernize the decades-old treaty started in May 2018. Most of the original provisions expired in 2024. But that July, the two countries announced a 20-year “agreement in principle,” or AIP, on key elements for an updated treaty.
However, uncertainty and lack of clarity about the provisions remained for the three utility districts, which stopped payments for the “Canadian Entitlement” when their existing contracts ended in September 2024. In June 2024, the PUDs sued BPA and other federal agencies in U.S. District Court in Spokane. In counterclaims, the U.S. government asserted that the PUDs could not use treaty-related stream flows without contributing to the “CE.”
Scheduled for a non-jury trial in January 2027, the case was dismissed Oct. 1.
With the new settlement, the mid-Columbia PUDs have agreed to pay for 25% of the reduced “Canadian Entitlement” obligations announced by the two nations in their AIP.
Additionally, the utility districts agreed to make a one-time payment of $29.9 million for unpaid contributions dating back to September 2024 through May of this year, plus an additional amount based on calculations from this June to when the agreement becomes effective. The parties also agreed to “improve water and energy planning, information sharing, and energy emergency operations.”
Those provisions were announced Sept. 25 in a joint statement from general managers Kirk Hudson (Chelan PUD), Gary Ivory (Douglas PUD), and John Mertlich (Grant PUD).
“Bringing this matter to a conclusion is a positive step for the Mid-Columbia region. While the legal process was necessary to resolve important questions, we are pleased to see the parties reach an agreement that allows us to move forward,” the three general managers said.
“Chelan, Douglas and Grant PUDs have a long history of working collaboratively on issues that affect our customers, our communities and the Columbia River system. Just as importantly, a strong and constructive relationship between the Mid-Columbia PUDs and the Bonneville Power Administration is essential to the long-term interests of our region,” the statement said.
In a November 2024 statement, then-Grant PUD general manager Rich Wallen said the decision to sue the federal agencies “didn’t come lightly.”
Citing calculations from hydropower industry experts, Wallen said it was believed that federal and PUD dams had been sending electricity benefits valued about 90% higher than the value received through coordinated operations and increased generation. That disparity, he said, was a collective annual overpayment to Canada estimated at $500 million.
“This overpayment means we have fewer resources for our own customers at a time when demand for electricity, especially here in Grant County, is forecasted to increase substantially,” said Wallen.
The U.S. District Court case number is 2:24-cv-0204-tor.