PORTLAND, Ore. – The U.S. State Department holds a town hall meeting in Portland Thursday on the state's Columbia River Treaty negotiations with Canada.

Conservation and tribal groups want negotiators to take the river's health into account.

The treaty focuses primarily on hydropower production and flood risk management for cities along the Columbia.

Greg Haller, executive director of the environmental group Pacific Rivers, says it's time to add "ecosystem-based function" to that list of priorities, and points to dismal salmon and steelhead returns as a sign of bad river health.

Haller says this is what many Northwesterners want.

"They expect their power to not kill salmon and drive them extinct, and we haven't achieved that yet,” he states. “And that's what we want, and that's what we're representing as a conservation community working on this issue. And the treaty offers a way to right that wrong."

Haller adds that dams in the Columbia River Basin have disrupted native fishing communities, but tribes and First Nations are not part of the negotiation process.

The town hall starts at 5:30 p.m.

The next round of negotiations between the U.S. and Canada takes place in Portland in October.

Haller says the treaty often is hailed as a gold standard for water treaty agreements.

"And it has produced a lot of benefits, but also at enormous costs to salmon and people, and fish and wildlife,” Haller states. “And so, addressing the social and cultural iniquities that have occurred and economic as a result of the treaty, I think, is an important outcome."

Haller says bringing salmon and steelhead back to the Columbia River Basin also factors into conservation groups' strategy for helping the Pacific Northwest orca population, which has suffered from a lack of food.


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Misinformation about the effects of offshore wind turbines on marine life could derail offshore wind farm projects in New York and New Jersey.

The issue stems from a string of whale deaths in both states over the last two months. Experts have not found a link between offshore wind turbines and harm to whales, but misinformation has continued to spread.

More than 165 New York elected officials signed a letter from Elected Officials to Protect America in support of offshore wind.

William Reinhardt, a member of the Albany County Legislature, noted there have been concerns about the development of a manufacturing facility at the Port of Albany. He feels any environmental impacts need to be addressed immediately.

"As you develop your wind facilities, whether it's the port or the facilities themselves out in the ocean, you don't want to fall into the pattern of the fossil-fuel industry, which is to create an awful lot of pollution, much more than you ever would with wind," Reinhardt cautioned. "But still you want to follow environmental guidelines, and take care of Mother Nature and all that."

Reinhardt feels the best way to inform people is to present the science as clearly as possible to ensure people have a better understanding of offshore wind. Currently, New York has 4,300 megawatts of offshore wind farms under development, with a goal of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind powering the state by 2035.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, several mayors of towns along the Jersey Shore have called for a moratorium on offshore wind.

Caren Fitzpatrick, an Atlantic County commissioner, believes a majority accept offshore wind, but noted a loud minority is eager to change it. Fitzpatrick thinks the debate has become an allegory for the country's current divisiveness.

"We are so divided and so tribal that a lot of people will not listen to another point of view or another perception, even when it is substantiated by hard facts," Fitzpatrick observed.

She added in order to cut through the shouting of the minority, there should be town hall meetings and other information sessions with people who are more knowledgeable about offshore wind. Fitzpatrick hopes it will help people see the real benefits to offshore wind and dispel any lies about the projects.

New funds will help plug abandoned oil and gas wells in the Keystone State, and should boost the region's economy in the process.

It is a big job, since there are about 8,900 so-called "orphan" wells in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The state has been awarded $25 million in federal funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Ted Boettner with the Ohio River Valley Institute said the bids have closed on five projects to plug 79 wells, totaling about $5.8 million.

"And the average cost per well is about $74,000, which is about $6,000 more than the Pennsylvania DEP originally estimated," Boettner explained. "They're also looking at additional wells to plug, so they'll be putting more invitations to qualify, and more bids out soon for companies to bid on, to plug wells."

The Department of Environmental Protection is now accepting bids for five more packages to plug a total of 84 more wells in rural Armstrong, Venango and Washington counties. The agency will also use $5 million in state funds, from legislation passed last year, creating a sustainable plan for plugging abandoned wells.

Boettner explained many of the orphan wells are old, and their operators are no longer around to seal them up. He said some are leaking dangerous amounts of methane, a pollutant 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Boettner added installing cement plugs and mud will not only help the environment, but also the local economy.

"The idea of plugging these wells and boosting employment in the oil-and-gas industry - especially in rural, distressed areas, where these wells are located - can help create good-paying jobs, in mostly rural areas in Pennsylvania, and it could also be reducing pollution at the same time."

He estimates every $120,000 spent plugging abandoned wells creates one job, for one year. It is a plus in areas where there are fewer fossil-fuel industry jobs in recent years.

A northeast Nebraska farming operation is starting the new year with an even bigger commitment to conservation, and they hope other farms take note.

Cover cropping and organic farming are already practiced by the Winnebago Tribe's Ho-Chunk Farms. And through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service "Eqip" program, they will add more conservation practices this year.

Aaron LaPointe, senior farm manager for Ho-Chunk Farms in Winnebago, said they've enrolled all 3,500 of their irrigated acres into a technology-driven water conservation program, known as the WaterSmart Initiative.

"There's lots of equipment that will inform you on your groundwater levels, which alerts you when to irrigate at the optimal time, using the least amount of water," LaPointe explained. "And also, if you're overwatering, that brings more of an issue when you start talking about leeching of different pesticides and herbicides, and getting things into our groundwater."

The USDA shares the upfront costs of water meters, soil-moisture probes, weather stations, and inspecting irrigation pumps to be sure they are functioning properly. LaPointe emphasized they are confident it will be a good long-term investment, both for water and soil health.

LaPointe noted they have also enrolled all their irrigated acres into another federal program to monitor their herbicide and pesticide use.

"It allows you to efficiently use a certain amount of chemical that you need to kill weeds without overdoing it," LaPointe pointed out. "Because any excess that you spray could eventually end up in groundwater or causing other issues in other things."

Ho-Chunk Farms is part of the Winnebago Tribe's economic development corporation. It will plant nearly 7,000 acres this year. Among those, 1,000 will be cover crops, and another 1,000 will have organically certified crops.

LaPointe hopes their successes will encourage other farmers to take a look at what the USDA offers.

"We, personally, might sit here and say, 'Well, is our 3,500 acres really making a difference?' But if you start inspiring more people to do it, now you're starting to make some real change," LaPointe remarked. "If there is somebody that's going to kind of set the trend and inspire people to maybe move in that direction, I think it should be us."