Hydropower

Long-deferred maintenance, a changing climate and the construction of homes, businesses and highways below previously remote dams are all contributing to the soaring numbers.

A Republican congressman is proposing removing four hydroelectric dams in the Northwest as part of a sweeping plan to address the decades-long problem of how to save salmon populations without upending a system that provides power to millions of people

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit over dams in the Columbia River Basin are asking the court to order federal agencies to spill more water over the dams this spring to help threatened and endangered fish.

Water supply forecasts are looking bleak for many Northwest rivers this year. Managers say that means the region will generate less hydropower.