Take Action
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URGENT ACTION PLEASE, April 2023
We must seize this moment and persuade President Biden to begin dam breaching this year. The time is NOW.
The winds have changed and he says he is committed to recovering salmon in the Snake River.
In the next 2-3 months, in a lawsuit pending in Oregon to save wild Snake River salmon and steelhead, President Biden will decide whether to agree to breach the lower Snake River dams to settle the case. But, will he?
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We are ramping up the heat.
Please CLICK HERE to enter your contact info & SUBMIT an editable pre-written letter to reach all six at once.
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It's super easy & fast.
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Help convince President Biden to do the right thing.
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Even if you have messaged about this before, please Submit this letter as well. We want to push outreach through the ceiling so they feel the support and urgency for breaching the Lower Snake River dams this year.
Highest priority to receive additional feedback are The President, Secretary Granholm, Secretary Haaland, CEQ Chair Mallory and Army Corps' Michael Connor & Jaime Pinkham (all contact info below).
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As always, feel free to choose additional recipients to receive your comments by making phone calls and / or sending messages to the following elected leaders and government officials. The more public feedback and encouragement they receive, the more likely it is that they will take action. For suggestions on what to say and talking points, see further down this page.
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President Joe Biden
The White House
202-456-1111 comments@whitehouse.gov
Tu-We-Th, 11-3 EST
@WhiteHouse
@WhiteHouse
@whitehouse
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, USA

Deb Haaland
Secretary, Department of Interior
202-208-3100 #3
@SecDebHaaland
@secdebhaaland
Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240

Jaime Pinkham
Principal Deputy Asst. Secty. of the Army for Civil Works
202-761-1878

Jennifer Granholm
Secretary, Department of Energy
202-586-5000 7a-7p Eastern
@SecGranholm
@SecGranholm
@secgranholm
U.S. Dept of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington DC 20585

Gina Raimondo
Secretary of Commerce
NO "Send a Message" form
202-482-2000
Secretary Gina Raimondo
@SecRaimondo
@SecRaimondo
1401 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20230, USA

Brenda Mallory
Council on Environmental Quality, CEQ Chair
@WHCEQ
Send a Message is same as White House 730 Jackson Place NW Washington, D.C. 20503

Michael Connor
Asstistant Secty. of the Army for Civil Works
'Send a Message' Recipient = Civil Works
202-761-1878
michael.l.connor.civ@mail.mil
Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 441 G Street NW Washington, DC 20314-1000

Patty Murray
US Senator, Washington
206-553-5545
202-224-2621 Senator@murray.senate.gov
@pattymurray
@pattymurray
@Senpattymurray
2988 Jackson Federal Building, 915 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Talking Points
​Here are facts you can use to build your own message.
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Negotiating a settlement to breach the dams beginning this year in the litigation pending in Oregon in NWF v. NMFS could end the decades old litigation, and would recover Snake River salmon and steelhead, uphold indigenous people’s rights and culture, and help the Southern Resident Killer Whales avoid extinction.
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The Snake River dams do not produce clean or green energy. That is a myth. The dams are destroying an ecosystem the size of Oregon and driving wild salmon and steelhead to extinction.
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More than 80,000 tons of CO2 equivalent of methane gas is produced each year by the four Lower Snake River dam reservoirs. Breaching the dams will create a free flowing river and will put an immediate stop to these potent greenhouse gas emissions.
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In the Columbia Basin, salmon and steelhead that must pass four dams in their migration to and from the ocean are surviving. Salmon and steelhead that must pass eight dams—the Snake River populations—are vanishing. The difference is the four lower Snake River dams.
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A 2021 Nez Perce study reveals that 77% of Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon will be quasi-extinct, or presumed to have little chance of recovery, by 2025. The fish are out of time.
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Lower Snake River dam breaching, along with other region-wide actions, must begin immediately. “Inaction will result in the catastrophic loss of the majority of Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead stocks.” (NOAA Fisheries, Draft—Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead, July 11, 2022, p. 18.)
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From insects to grizzly bears to Southern Resident Killer Whales, more than 130 species depend on the marine nutrients that wild salmon and steelhead provide.
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“Perhaps the single greatest change in food availability for resident killer whales since the late 1800s has been the decline of salmon from the Columbia River basin.” (NOAA SRKW Recovery Plan Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales, (Orcinus orca), National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Region, Seattle, Washington (January 2008), p. II-82.)
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Breaching the dams will revitalize 140 miles of riparian areas and restore large expanses of currently degraded forests, which will reestablish vast carbon sinks needed to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Frequently Asked Questions
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