Hi Friend,

You secured major wins for clean water and our climate in 2023. Way to go! From slashing toxic pollution in the Columbia River to uniting people across the Northwest to stop climate-wrecking fossil fuel infrastructure to working in solidarity with Tribes to restore salmon, you made an impact.

Columbia Riverkeeper unites people with a passion for justice, clean water, and our climate. Together, you protect what you love.

This work is more important than ever. We will not let up. With your support, our team is gearing up for another big year for environmental justice and climate action in 2024. We will: 

• Fight the fossil fuel industry because our climate and the Columbia depend on it. 
• Work in solidarity with Tribes to restore the Columbia’s iconic salmon. 
• Cleanup the most toxic place in America, the Hanford Nuclear Site. 
• Stop toxic pollution by taking polluters to court and advocating for laws that protect everyone who relies on locally-caught fish.  
• Monitor water quality at popular swim beaches and lead dynamic, bilingual environmental education along the Columbia. 

As a Columbia Riverkeeper supporter, those are just a few of your many accomplishments in 2023. Thank you for helping us meet our $55,000 match. You make these victories possible.

Onward, 
Lauren Goldberg
Executive Director

Fighting Fossil Fuels

• 9 members of Congress and thousands of people urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny TC Energy’s massive GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion.
• 200 people participated in the Land and Water Day of Action against fossil fuels in Portland, organized by Columbia Riverkeeper and partners.
• 5 years and counting is how far NEXT Energy has fallen behind schedule in its plans to build a non-conventional diesel refinery in the Columbia River Estuary. Why? Columbia Riverkeeper and community members have won a legal challenge and disclosed the plan’s massive climate and water quality impacts, leading to permit delays and withdrawals.

Stopping Pollution

• 6 Clean Water Act lawsuits prosecuted and settled in 2023, which will prevent a whole lot of toxic and other pollution from flowing into  the Columbia River.
• $25 million the Port of Vancouver USA will spend to reduce toxic copper pollution that would otherwise flow into the Columbia under a legal settlement with Columbia Riverkeeper.
• $780,000+ paid by polluters in penalties to Tribes and nonprofit organizations as a result of our 2023 lawsuit settlements.
• 3 years to prevail in a court appeal brought by Earthjustice on behalf of Tribes, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Sierra Club to overturn a Trump-era rule gutting Clean Water Act protections.

Engaging Communities

• 240 water quality samples collected at Columbia River beaches.
• 650+ kids and young adults who experienced bilingual (English and Spanish) environmental education through Columbia Riverkeeper’s  outreach program.
• 30+ events Columbia Riverkeeper hosted or partnered in to inspire people in Columbia River communities to speak up for clean water, salmon, and our climate.
• 1400+ pounds of garbage volunteers collected at community cleanup events along the Columbia.

Cleaning Up Hanford

• 70 students from the Yakama Nation Tribal School and Heritage University who participated in a one-of-a-kind school trip (featured on National Public Radio!), organized by Columbia Riverkeeper and Yakama Nation, to tour the Hanford Nuclear Site.
• 750+ Columbia Riverkeeper members and supporters who advocated for improvements to the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s proposed Hanford Nuclear Site cleanup plans.
• 500+ people who explored Columbia Riverkeeper’s “Water’s Walk Through Hanford” storymap that creatively explains the toxic and radioactive contamination threatening the Columbia.

Saving Salmon

• 10 dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers that, after years of strategic litigation, finally have Clean Water Act discharge permits to reduce impacts on water quality.
• 4 Endangered Species Act-listed fish species in the Lewis River, an important Columbia tributary, that will benefit from PacifiCorp building fish passage at old dams, thanks to advocacy by Tribes and allies.
• 2 Tribes and 6 fish advocacy groups partnering with Columbia Riverkeeper to sue the state of Oregon for weakening protections for migratory fish like salmon, steelhead, and lamprey.

Events and Engagement:

• Come Join Our Team: Summer 2024 Legal Internship, deadline to apply February 7, 2024. Columbia Riverkeeper is accepting applications for one summer law clerk for a period of 10 weeks during summer 2024, with the potential to extend into the following school year as a for-credit externship. Please forward and share with friends!
• Shop for a Good Cause: Want to show your friends how much you love Columbia Riverkeeper? Check out our new store today.
• Give!Guide now - December 31: We are excited to participate in Willamette Week’s GiveGuide. Help build a culture of active community engagement by giving generously at GiveGuide.org. You will have the opportunity to win awesome prizes on Big Give Days and through Columbia Riverkeeper’s amazing business partners.
• Salmon at a Crossroads Lecture: January 17, 2024, in Hood River, Oregon, and online. Engaging lecture with Columbia Riverkeeper Legal Director Miles Johnson as discusses the widespread consensus that most wild Snake River salmon and steelhead are on a trajectory to extinction and why he believes the movement to un-dam the Lower Snake River is as close to success as it has been for decades.