Columbia River

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced last week it will hold two online public meetings later this month to get feedback on a $1.5 billion project to run a 100-mile-long high-voltage power line under the Columbia River.

Conservationists say bypassing federal review clears the way for construction that could damage a levee and increase flood risk.

The nations were trying to finalize updates to the 61-year-old Columbia River Treaty governing shared, cross-border water and hydropower management

A decades-long battle between environmentalists and agencies over future of river has been complicated by January’s presidential transition.

The United States and Canada have reached a preliminary agreement renewing and modernizing the Columbia River Treaty, which has governed the river’s dams and reservoirs for 60 years.

The order from President Joe Biden arrived moments before an Oregon Senate committee met to address the state’s struggling populations of wild salmon and steelhead.