Columbia River Treaty (2020 Transition)
| Book 2 - Issue Papers
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| Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020 |
The Columbia River Treaty (CRT) is a United States-Canada international energy and flood risk management (FRM) treaty. The United States Entity initiated the CRT Review in 2008 ahead of the first opportunity to trigger termination, with subsequent negotiations for the post-2024 future of the CRT between the Nations still underway.
Background
The Columbia River Treaty[1] is an international energy and flood risk management treaty. In exchange for Canada agreeing to construct three large storage dams in British Columbia, to operate those dams for FRM, and to optimize power generation, the United States agreed to pay Canada for 60 years of flood risk management protection and to provide Canada with half of the downstream hydropower benefits produced in the United States from the operation of the Canadian Treaty dams known as the “Canadian Entitlement.”
The CRT was signed in 1961, and ratified by the United States Senate and initiated in 1964. In the United States, the CRT is implemented by the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), as the chair of the United States Entity;[2] and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Northwest Division Engineer, as the member of the United States Entity.[3] In Canada, the CRT is implemented by the British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority.[3] Today, the CRT provides for coordinated power and FRM benefits, as well as other benefits, to both countries within the Columbia River Basin.[4]
Summary
The United States Government reached consensus on a high-level position for negotiations of the post-2024 future of the Columbia River Treaty in June 2015, and received authorization to negotiate with Canada on the Columbia River Treaty in October 2016. Government Affairs Canada notified the U.S. Department of State in December 2017 of Canada’s mandate to negotiate the Columbia River Treaty with the United States. Negotiations began in spring 2018 and continue to date. Both the U.S. Department of State and Canadian negotiators have discussed shared objectives and exchanged information on flood risk management, hydropower, and ecosystem considerations. The negotiation team of the United States consists of the U.S. Department of State; the United States Entity; the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Water and Science (and DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation); and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Currently, the Office of Electricity and BPA are engaged with USACE and DOI to calculate the overall value of the CRT to the United States Government per the direction of the Council of Economic Advisors and National Economic Council. The intent is to use this internal valuation effort to establish a single Federal position and advance the interests of the United States in the negotiations going forward.
See also
References
- ↑ Treaty Between Canada and the United States of America Relating to Cooperative Development of the Water Resources of the Columbia River Basin, Can.-U.S., Jan. 17, 1961, 542 U.N.T.S. 244 (1964), https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/6/2012/04/Columbia-River-Treaty-Protocol-and-Documents.pdf
- ↑ “Entity” means an entity designated by either Canada or the United States of American under Article XIV of the Treaty and includes its lawful successor. Article I, 1(g) of the Columbia River Treaty.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See https://www.state.gov/columbia-river-treaty/
- ↑ The Columbia River drainage basin is the drainage basin of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The basin covers 258,000 square miles and includes parts of seven states and one Canadian province. See https://www.americanrivers.org/river/columbia-river/.