Columbia River Treaty NGO Letter

SRW and 56 other conservation, fishing, faith, clean energy, orca, and community groups signed on to a Columbia River Treaty NGO letter asking the U.S. Government to make improvements to the Treaty for the benefit of salmon, river ecosystems, and all who depend on them. The letter identifies five actions that the State Department and […]

Putting Polluters On Notice

Snake River Waterkeeper (SRW) recently submitted Notice of Intent to Sue letters to four Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) facilities in Idaho. These facilities are all in violation of their federally required National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, which sets pollution limits in accordance with the Clean Water Act. Over the past 5 years, each […]

Comments Submitted: Washington Water Quality Standards

Snake River Waterkeeper joined a coalition of 14 conservation and water quality organizations in drafting and submitting comments to the Washington Department of Ecology. We are asking the agency to stop using its now-disapproved Natural Conditions Criteria (NCC) to develop its Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and adopt new, scientifically-based standards to better protect salmon […]

Judge: lawsuit alleging major ag company pollutes the Snake River can proceed

By Erin Banks Rusby – BoiseDev Reporter A case against one of Idaho’s highest-profile agricultural companies has been granted the green light to proceed. Snake River Waterkeeper, an environmental nonprofit, filed a lawsuit against Simplot, specifically, its largest feedlot, located in Grand View, Idaho, in May 2023 for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act. The […]

WA Rejects Army Corps’ Water Quality Attainment Plan

The state of Washington’s Department of Ecology rejected the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed Water Quality Attainment Plan for failing to adequately address hot water pollution on the Lower Snake River. The high water temperatures, which are caused by slow moving water behind the four Lower Snake dams, are lethal to migrating salmon and […]

Court Denies Simplot’s Motion to Dismiss Clean Water Act Case Over Illegal Factory Farm Pollution on the Snake River

Our lawsuit challenging decades of unlawful pollution discharges into the Snake River at a Grand View, Idaho cattle feedlot will move forward following a decision by a federal court judge. Idaho Chief District Judge David C. Nye upheld our Clean Water Act (CWA) lawsuit filed in May 2023 against J.R. Simplot Company and Simplot Livestock […]

On Breaching the Snake River Dams

ABOVE Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) tribal member Brian Holt gaff-hook fishing for spring Chinook on Rapid River, a tributary of the Little Salmon River. Photo: Ben Herndon By Jim Hepworth | The Flyfish Journal The Nez Perce call the river yáwwinma, meaning place of cold water. Non-Indigenous people refer to it as Rapid River.  It’s the only stream […]

Opposition to proposed Farm Bill

Snake River Waterkeeper is a member of the Clean Water for All Coalition. On May 22, we submitted a joint letter opposing the House Committee on Agriculture’s recently-proposed Farm Bill for failing to address critical priorities essential for protecting our water resources and lacking sufficient support for sustainable agricultural practices. Read the letter: Joint letter […]

Don Chapman, Idaho’s respected fish scientist, is constantly thinking deeply, broadly and ahead

ABOVE: Don Chapman at work in Kelly Creek in 1971. (Courtesy of Steve Pettit) By Pat Ford | Idaho Capital Sun Don Chapman and Bill Platts are Idahoans whose careers in science have built our shared understanding and caretaking of fish and rivers. Both men are now in their middle 90s. Don resides in McCall, […]