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Vilsack on Snake River Dams: Ag 'Well-Represented' in Mediation by Matthew Weaver Capital Press, August 1, 2023

"The ag position and concerns are being expressed."
-- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

PULLMAN, Wash. -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Aug. 1 that farmers are well-represented in the mediation taking place on the lower Snake River dams.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Aug. 1 that farmers are well-represented in the mediation taking place on the lower Snake River dams.

"There's an inter-agency process in which the Department of Agriculture is making sure that folks who are making decisions which could impact agriculture are taking agriculture's interests and concerns under consideration," Vilsack said. "Rest assured, we are making sure that agriculture is well-represented in the inter-agency process."

Federal mediation on the fate of the dams is slated to end Aug. 31. The talks, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, are part of a stay in the long-running lawsuit over the dams and their impact on fish populations.

Environmental groups and tribes are calling for removal of the dams to benefit salmon recovery.

Agricultural stakeholders support salmon recovery, but say removing the dams is not a "silver bullet" as a solution, and cite negative economic, environmental and energy impacts if they are taken out.

Agricultural stakeholders have also criticized the federal mediation process, expressing concern that dam breaching is a pre-determined outcome. Pacific Northwest agricultural groups asked Vilsack to step in on the federal mediation in March.

A representative from the White House has been out to the area several times, Vilsack said.

"(Farmers) need to know that we are making sure, as we always do... that the ag position and concerns are being expressed," he said.

USDA will continue to work to ensure that whatever decisions are made do not negatively impact agriculture, Vilsack said.

Vilsack spoke to reporters during a press conference Aug. 1 following a groundbreaking ceremony for the new USDA Agricultural Research Service building on the Washington State University campus in Pullman, Wash.