U.S. pauses Columbia River Treaty talks as trade tensions grow, B.C. minister says
Treaty governs power generation, water sharing in sensitive ecological areas in B.C., Washington and Oregon
B.C.'s Energy Ministry says the United States has paused negotiations with Canada on the wide-reaching Columbia River Treaty that regulates everything from flood control and power generation to water supply and salmon restoration in the region.
The ministry says in a news release that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration "is conducting a broad review of its international engagement."
The two countries reached an in-principle deal on a new version of the decades-old treaty last July, and while officials from both countries pushed for its finalization before Trump took office in January, the treaty's fate remains unsettled.
The Columbia River's headwaters are in British Columbia before it flows down into the states of Washington and Oregon.
"If people know B.C.'s history, [the treaty] is a significant part of the modern history of B.C.," Energy Minister Adrian Dix said on Tuesday.
The stoppage in talks comes amid trade tensions between Canada and the United States, and the Globe and Mail newspaper reported that Trump called the treaty unfair to the United States in a call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February.
Last year, Trump mused about a "very large faucet" that could be diverted to the U.S. While the faucet is fiction, questions about what will happen next for the 61-year-old water treaty under renegotiation are very real.
Dix said that multi-year talks on the treaty, which can span multiple U.S. administrations, was considered part of the normal course of affairs.
"But what isn't normal, of course, is some of the musings of the president of the United States, with respect to British Columbia, with respect to Canada and our water," he said.
The energy minister says he will be hosting a virtual information session to update residents about the status of treaty talks on March 25 "in light of new developments from the U.S."
The ministry also says it will schedule in-person community meetings that were originally planned for earlier this year "once there is more clarity about next steps on the path to modernizing the treaty."
The original treaty was signed in 1961 after a flood in 1948 devastated communities in the region, and First Nations in B.C. have been calling for the new treaty to support restoration of salmon runs that have been blocked by dams in the United States.
Treaty termination takes 10 years
Since 1964, the treaty has required Canada to control the flow of the river via dams to meet U.S. needs for hydropower and flood prevention. The treaty also obliges the U.S to give Canada half the additional potential hydroelectric power produced by treaty dams, which can be sold at market value.
Provisions expired in September. A three-year interim agreement is in place to allow continued flood control operations and some components of a new agreement, but the renegotiated, modernized treaty isn't yet finalized.
John Wagner, an anthropology professor at the University of B.C. who has extensive knowledge of the treaty, said that the interim agreement made major gains in helping mitigate the impact of climate change and advance the rights of First Nations.
"The problem with Trump is that he doesn't seem to care at all about Indigenous peoples and their rights and their interests," he said.
"He doesn't care about the environment. He doesn't care about fish. He hardly even acknowledges the existence of climate change."
The Columbia River is the fourth largest watershed in North America, flowing about 2,000 kilometres from B.C's Columbia Lake into Washington State, entering the Pacific near Astoria, Ore.
With some 60 dams on the river and tributaries, it today delivers more than 40 per cent of U.S. hydroelectric power, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and about half the hydropower in B.C.
Dix said that the treaty continues to be in place, and it would take a decade to end it outright — something he doesn't see as likely.
"This Columbia River Treaty is supported by members on both sides of the border, in both sides of of Congress in the United States," he said.
But he added that Canada and B.C. would defend their interests every single day, and "no amount of bluster" would change that.
"You have the president constantly speculating on annexing our country," he said. "And we're going to fight that everywhere, including in these negotiations."
With files from Katie DeRosa, Yvette Brend and The Canadian Press