Summary of the Agreement in Principle to Modernize the Columbia River Treaty Regime

The Columbia River and its tributaries are the life spring and economic engine of the Pacific Northwest. For millennia, Tribes and Indigenous Nations have relied on it to sustain their culture. Additionally, the Columbia River and its tributaries account for 40 percent of U.S. hydropower, irrigate $8 billion in agriculture products, and move 42 million tons of commercial cargo ($20 billion in value) annually. Modernization of the Columbia River Treaty regime has been President Biden’s top priority in the U.S. partnership with Canada, as he and Prime Minister Trudeau expressed in March 2023 when they committed to intensify efforts to reach agreement.

Today, we are happy to announce that the United States has reached agreement in principle with Canada on the key elements for a modernized Treaty regime. This negotiating milestone will build on our successful partnership in managing this precious shared resource and grow that partnership to meet future challenges including from climate change. The modernized Columbia River Treaty regime will benefit both countries through commitments on Indigenous inclusion, the ecosystem, power coordination, and flood risk management.

• Hydropower and transmission grid connectivity: The United States and Canada have a shared goal of transitioning to renewable energy sources to meet growing demand on both sides of the border, which includes maintaining and enhancing our abundant existing clean energy sources like hydropower.

Power grid connectivity across the western United States and Canada is essential to avoid blackouts and mitigate extreme weather impacts to our energy systems. Modernization provides the opportunity to enhance cooperation between the States’ Bonneville Power Administration and Canadian utilities and will set the stage for potential additional grid connectivity to facilitate transfers of renewable energy between the countries. It also will continue power coordination for better optimization of the river system, helping keep the lights on.

In addition, modernization will result in an immediate 37 percent reduction in hydropower that the United States delivers to Canada under the current agreement, and a reduction of 50 percent by 2033. This will retain more clean energy in the United States to support a thriving modern economy without a diminishment of Canada’s current clean energy mix.

Power transfers to Canada will reduce further if Canada decides to use more water storage at Canadian Treaty dams in British Columbia to meet domestic needs. As Canada exercises more reservoir flexibility, the size of the Canadian Entitlement will drop in proportion.

• Flood risk management to protect the United States downstream: The United States will have access to pre-planned storage space behind Canadian Treaty dams for flood risk management. This means that in most years, U.S. reservoirs in the Columbia Basin will operate similar to today.

Pre-planned flood risk management in Canada protects the United States by helping to manage high flows originating in Canada, thus maintaining predictable flows in the Columbia Basin, which enables stable shipping operations, supports irrigation and agriculture, supports recreation, and protects ongoing efforts to support regional salmon populations. Recognizing this, the United States will compensate Canada for helping enable these additional benefits.

• Indigenous inclusion and ecosystem health: To further cement and expand Tribal and Indigenous inclusion in a modernized Treaty regime, the United States and Canada will establish a Tribal and Indigenous-led body that will provide recommendations on how Treaty operations can better support ecosystem needs and tribal and indigenous cultural values. This body will provide an essential voice for U.S. Tribes and Canadian Indigenous Nations concerning possible adaptations of future operations to support a healthy ecosystem, improve salmon survival, and address cultural values of those who have been stewards of this resource since time immemorial.
• Supporting a healthy salmon population: A modernized Treaty regime will include a long-term agreement to continue water flows (flow augmentation) from Canadian reservoirs to support salmon migration throughout the basin, including a strategy to bolster flows during dry years. Furthermore, both countries are committing to coordinate on studies on salmon reintroduction, which are led by U.S. Tribes and Canadian Indigenous Nations.

Reaching an agreement in principle on these key elements is an important milestone in the modernization of the Columbia River Treaty regime, and both countries are committed to proceed as quickly as possible to finalize the text of the modernized agreement and bring it into force. Until both countries complete domestic processes for entry into force, the United States and Canada are preparing appropriate interim measures to transition implementation of Treaty operations to a modernized future that benefits the people and environment on both sides of the border.