Can slicing a 100-mile trench into the bed of the Columbia River be good for the environment? The answer is a big yes, says a team of energy developers that proposes submerging power cables in the riverbed.
The developers say the cables could deliver “clean” energy that will be crucial for getting the most densely developed areas of Cascadia off fossil fuels.
A proposal by energy developer Sun2o Partners and transmission developer PowerBridge would insert the cables into the Columbia at The Dalles in Oregon. This electrical on-ramp is near the wind farms and solar farms installed along the Columbia Gorge in eastern Oregon and Washington.
The cables also would intersect the monster transmission lines at the Bonneville Power Administration’s Big Eddy substation, drawing cheaper solar power from the Southwest, steadier wind power from Montana and Wyoming, and reliable backup power from British Columbia’s supersized hydropower reservoirs.
But even climate-conscious developers can’t make plans involving a natural resource like the Columbia River without causing uneasiness among those concerned with ecosystems and communities. Along the Columbia, those affected would include tribal nations and unique cultural interests.
Sun2o and PowerBridge propose to bring their cables ashore in Portland, helping to electrify industries, buildings and vehicles while reducing the use of coal- and gas-fired power plants. Hence the project’s name: Cascade Renewable Transmission.
“The only places you can site solar and wind at scale are, for the most part, east of the Cascades. But the demand, the need for the electricity, is in Portland and Seattle, on the west side,” says Corey Kupersmith, the New York–based renewable energy developer who cofounded Sun2o and dreamed up the cable scheme. And power lines that link east and west are filling up fast, he says.
Anticipating environmental concerns, the developers assert they will do little harm to the Columbia, employing high-pressure pumps that make underwater cable installation quick and not so dirty. Water jets would shoot down from a “hydroplow” towed along the riverbed, stirring open an 18-inch-wide trench in the sediment.
Environmental impacts, they argue, would likely be short-term and outweighed by environmental gains: reductions in pollution from natural gas, petroleum fuels and coal. That includes emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, two greenhouse gases that are supercharging Cascadia’s wildfires and heat waves and disrupting even the Columbia’s temperature and timing.
To Elaine Harvey, however, the Cascade Renewable Transmission pitch sounds like one more industrial enterprise in a stream of projects that have harmed her people. Such ventures decimated the Columbia River’s fisheries and fenced off and degraded the shrub-steppe grasslands that the Yakama and other tribes and bands ceded in an 1855 treaty with the United States.
A member of the Yakama’s Kah-milt-pa, or Rock Creek, Band, Harvey lives with the legacy of dams, aluminum production, wind farms, expanding solar plants and other development. Each has infringed on her people’s right to pursue traditional practices.
As Harvey and Kah-milt-pa Chief Bronsco Jim Jr. wrote earlier this year in the newsletter of Columbia Riverkeeper: “Ours is a living culture, and we are being cheated by progress. An unrelenting cultural extinction in the name of energy development.”
Power-system experts say the grid that sufficed in the fossil-fuel era must increase capacity if renewable electricity is to become the lifeblood of economies.
Wind blows and sunlight shines most reliably in places that are sparsely populated – areas with weak power lines. Stronger grids, in contrast, enable more power to travel between regions, so those areas can help each other out – precisely what Texas couldn’t do when a deep freeze brought the state to its knees in February and when heat strained its grid last month.
To explore the role of power transmission and the tradeoffs involved in grid expansion, InvestigateWest spoke with Kupersmith, Harvey and Lauren Goldberg, the legal and program director for Columbia Riverkeeper.
Corey Kupersmith: Renewable energy developer
A passion for diving exposed Corey Kupersmith to coral bleaching resulting from water pollution and global warming. An engineer by training and a banker by trade, Kupersmith cofounded New York City–based Sun2o five years ago as a business venture that honors his environmental values
Pursuing solar energy projects in sun-soaked eastern Oregon and Washington inspired him to propose the Cascade link project. Sun2o found plenty of landowners and rural communities eager to host solar panels. But it struggled to secure affordable space on power lines so it could send that energy to the utilities in greatest need of renewable energy.
Moving power west over the Cascades means getting access to the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) regional network, the Northwest’s transmission backbone. That network is maxing out as a wave of renewable power projects plug in. “BPA has like 28 gigawatts of solar, wind and storage requests,” says Kupersmith. “That’s going to be pushing systems to their limits.”
And that was before Oregon passed one of North America’s most aggressive grid decarbonization plans. The bill, which Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign this month, requires Oregon’s investor-owned utilities to deliver 80% carbon-free power by 2030, compared to less than 50% today. It mandates 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 – five years ahead of deadlines set by Washington state and California.
Bonneville itself is in a tough spot. The federal entity is being financially stretched by rising costs to maintain aging dams and improve impacted salmon fisheries and decreasing revenues as customers defect to cheaper suppliers.
Hitting a transmission barrier inspired Kupersmith to propose the Cascade cables. He knew putting them in the riverbed was an option, because PowerBridge had installed two transmission lines in the Hudson River to ease power bottlenecks in New York City. And he saw a submerged cable as an end-run around opposition to overhead lines that has scuppered previous grid expansion efforts in Cascadia and frequently ties up projects across the continent.
Kupersmith’s partner at PowerBridge, Chris Hocker, calls overhead lines “hideously problematic,” noting that they can take a decade or more to build. In contrast, he and Kupersmith anticipate their Columbia cables would begin pumping electricity in just five years – lightning speed for new transmission.
Of course, that depends on government and community approval. And the partners recently began conversations with the four tribes that have treaty rights in the region, including the Yakama Nation and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Kupersmith said they had hoped to meet earlier but were delayed by the pandemic and a desire to conduct consultations in person.
Elaine Harvey: Kah-milt-pa activist
For Elaine Harvey, a power line in the Columbia would add to a pile of damaging energy developments over the decades. One of the most devastating was the 1957 completion of The Dalles Dam – one of 14 major dams on the Columbia’s main stem – and decimation of the world’s largest fishery.
The Dalles Dam energized the associated Big Eddy substation, where Kupersmith and his partners hope to plug into BPA’s regional grid, and which has its own painful associations for local tribes.
The Dalles Dam’s 200-foot-high barrier submerged the storied Celilo Falls, where daring dip netters once caught leaping salmon and steelhead. The dam also submerged a complex of villages nearby, which had been a gathering point for traders from tribes across the Northwest. Prior to the dam, it was North America’s oldest site of continuous human habitation.
Those historic insults and other losses remain fresh more than half a century later, as Indigenous communities grapple with a settler culture that often seems incapable of hearing their concerns.
Harvey sees that inability manifested in another proposed grid reinforcement project that she’s fighting, just upstream from The Dalles. The Goldendale Energy Storage Project would build a pair of 60-acre reservoirs, one alongside the river and one on a bluff above. By moving Columbia River water between the reservoirs, the project would store and discharge energy like a giant battery.
The project faces vocal opposition from the Yakama Nation, to whom the site is profoundly sacred. Yakama stories recall the bluffs as a haven during great floods in millennia past, and Harvey says her band still forages there for culturally important “first foods,” such as desert parsley.
They already have lost much access to foraging sites because wind farms have fenced off large areas. Only one landowner hosting a wind farm allows Harvey’s people to enter and gather traditional plants, she says.
Harvey asks whether the onslaught of development in the Columbia Gorge is necessary. She questions whom the projects are intended to benefit, noting with suspicion the express line running between BPA’s Big Eddy hub and Los Angeles.
The express line and others were built in the 1960s to help power California. In the future, excess solar power could flow north when the sun is up. But today, the lines’ primary use remains the shipment of hydropower from the Columbia River dams and British Columbia south to California.
Harvey wants to know where development will stop. “What is this going to lead to? Is this going to lead to wind (turbines) down the middle of the river? What’s down the line?”
Climate change also worries Harvey. A biologist by training, she knows warmer water represents a growing threat to the Columbia’s struggling fisheries.
Harvey thinks other solutions need to be considered. Gas-fired power plants can be equipped to capture the CO2 they produce. Smarter logging practices and coastal protections can boost the ability of inland forests and kelp forests to capture atmospheric CO2. Rooftop solar panels can generate power where it’s needed most.
Bottom line, says Harvey: “We already gave up enough.”
Lauren Goldberg: River defender and lawyer
For Lauren Goldberg, projects like the Cascade cables present an acute challenge. Goldberg, a 15-year veteran at Columbia Riverkeeper, sees fossil fuels and climate change as existential threats to the river and the communities that rely on it. This is a reason Riverkeeper has been a mainstay in the “Thin Green Line” movement that has blocked many efforts to push more coal, oil and liquefied natural gas down the rail lines transiting the Gorge.
And it’s why it advocates for clean energy production. “The Columbia River is already being impacted by the climate crisis, and the projections are dire,” says Goldberg.
Goldberg says a lot of green energy development has happened in the Columbia Basin, and she expects that will continue. But that does not mean every project that calls itself renewable and green gets a pass.
And even if submerged power cables are deemed important for energy transition, for Goldberg their carbon-cutting potential must outweigh their direct environmental impacts.
“Whether it’s renewable energy or fossil energy, we need to understand how a project is going to impact people that rely on the Columbia for salmon and for clean water,” says Goldberg.
Goldberg stresses that burying 100-mile-long power cables in the riverbed is a concept that Riverkeeper has yet to grapple with. Based on experience and preliminary research, Goldberg identifies several issues. One is the impact from stirring up sediment. She says that while the Columbia is “incredibly beautiful,” it’s by no means “pristine.”
Another potential impact mentioned by Goldberg could come from the electromagnetic fields generated by power cables. Research commissioned by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management looked at magnetic fields emanating from similar transmission cables laid across San Francisco Bay. Those cables helped reduce San Francisco’s dependence on gas-fired power plants.
The study found that the cables had some effects on migratory fish like salmon, which navigate partly by sensing Earth’s magnetic fields. For example, the cables increased the chance that salmon smolts would take a wrong turn that lengthened their journey to the ocean. But it detected no evidence that fish were harmed. Fish appeared to be just as successful at migrating through the bay after the cables were turned on.
This report is part of Getting to Zero, InvestigateWest’s yearlong reporting initiative on reducing carbon in the Cascadia region. InvestigateWest’s work is supported in part by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Je, kuchimba shimo la maili 160 kwenye Mto Columbia kunaweza kuwa na manufaa kwa mazingira? "Jibu ni ""ndiyo,"" anasema kikundi cha watengenezaji wa nishati ambao wanapendekeza kuzamisha nyaya za umeme ndani ya mto." Watengenezaji wanasema nyaya zinaweza kutoa nishati "safi" ambayo itakuwa muhimu kwa kupata maeneo ya maendeleo ya Cascadia mbali na mafuta ya visukuku. Kampuni ya Sun2o Partners na kampuni ya PowerBridge ya kuendeleza usambazaji wa umeme, imesema kuwa itafanya kazi ya kuunganisha umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme. Mzunguko huu wa umeme uko karibu na mashamba ya upepo na mashamba ya jua yaliyowekwa kando ya Columbia Gorge mashariki mwa Oregon na Washington. Mstari wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme wa umeme. Lakini hata watengenezaji wenye ufahamu wa hali ya hewa hawawezi kufanya mipango inayohusisha rasilimali ya asili kama Mto Columbia bila kusababisha wasiwasi miongoni mwa wale wanaohusika na mifumo ya ikolojia na jamii. Katika Columbia, wale walioathiriwa wangetia ndani mataifa ya kikabila na maslahi ya kipekee ya kitamaduni. Sun2o na PowerBridge wanapendekeza kuleta nyaya zao pwani huko Portland, kusaidia umeme wa viwanda, majengo na magari wakati wa kupunguza matumizi ya mitambo ya makaa ya mawe na gesi. Kwa hiyo jina la mradi huo: Cascade Renewable Transmission. <unk>Maeneo pekee unaweza eneo jua na upepo katika kiwango ni, kwa sehemu kubwa, mashariki ya Cascades. "Lakini mahitaji ya umeme ni katika Portland na Seattle, upande wa magharibi, ""anasema Corey Kupersmith, New York makao ya maendeleo ya nishati mbadala ambaye co-kuanzishwa Sun2o na ndoto ya mpango cable." Na mistari ya umeme inayounganisha mashariki na magharibi inajazwa haraka, asema. Kwa kuzingatia wasiwasi wa mazingira, watengenezaji wanadai kwamba hawatadhuru sana Columbia, wakitumia pampu za shinikizo la juu ambazo hufanya usakinishaji wa kebo ya chini ya maji iwe haraka na sio chafu sana. Mlipuko wa maji ulitoka kwenye "mlipuko wa maji" uliokuwa ukivutwa kando ya mto, na kufungua shimo lenye upana wa inchi 18 katika matope. "Wanasema athari za mazingira zitakuwa za muda mfupi na zitatolewa na faida za mazingira: kupunguzwa kwa uchafuzi kutoka kwa gesi ya asili, mafuta ya mafuta na makaa ya mawe.""" "Hiyo inajumuisha uzalishaji wa kaboni dioksidi na methani, gesi mbili za chafu ambazo zinaongeza moto wa Cascadia na mawimbi ya joto na kuvuruga hata joto la Columbia na wakati wake. """ Kwa Elaine Harvey, hata hivyo, wito wa Cascade Renewable Transmission unaonekana kama biashara nyingine ya viwanda katika mtiririko wa miradi ambayo imewaumiza watu wake. Meli hizo zilipunguza uvuvi wa Mto Columbia na kuharibu maeneo ya nyasi ya msituni ambayo Wakama na makabila mengine na vikundi vilikubaliana na Marekani katika mkataba wa mwaka wa 1855. Akiwa mwanachama wa Kikundi cha Yakama's Kah-milt-pa, au Rock Creek, Harvey anaishi na urithi wa mabwawa, uzalishaji wa alumini, mashamba ya upepo, kupanua mitambo ya jua na maendeleo mengine. Kila mmoja amevunja haki ya watu wake ya kufuata mazoea ya kitamaduni. Kama Harvey na Kah-milt-pa Mkuu Bronsco Jim Jr. aliandika mapema mwaka huu katika jarida la Columbia Riverkeeper: <unk>Wetu ni utamaduni hai, na sisi ni kuwa kudanganywa na maendeleo. Uharibifu wa utamaduni usio na mwisho kwa jina la maendeleo ya nishati. Wataalamu wa mfumo wa umeme wanasema gridi ambayo ilitosha katika enzi ya mafuta ya mafuta lazima iongeze uwezo ikiwa umeme unaobadilika ungeweza kuwa damu ya maisha ya uchumi. Upepo hupiga na mwangaza wa jua huangaza kwa njia yenye kutegemeka zaidi katika maeneo ambayo yana watu wachache <unk> maeneo yenye mistari dhaifu ya umeme. Gridi zenye nguvu, kwa upande mwingine, huruhusu nguvu zaidi kusafiri kati ya mikoa, kwa hivyo maeneo hayo yanaweza kusaidiana - haswa kile Texas haikuweza kufanya wakati baridi kali ilileta jimbo hilo kwenye magoti yake mnamo Februari na wakati joto liliposababisha mzunguko wake mwezi uliopita. Ili kuchunguza jukumu la usafirishaji wa umeme na biashara zinazohusika katika upanuzi wa gridi, InvestigateWest ilizungumza na Kupersmith, Harvey na Lauren Goldberg, mkurugenzi wa kisheria na programu ya Columbia Riverkeeper. Corey Kupersmith: Msanidi nishati wa nishati mbadala shauku ya kupiga mbizi ilimficha Corey Kupersmith kwa rangi ya matumbawe inayotokana na uchafuzi wa maji na ongezeko la joto duniani. Kupersmith, ambaye ni mhandisi wa mafunzo na benki kwa biashara, alianzisha Sun2o, iliyoko New York City, miaka mitano iliyopita kama biashara inayoheshimu maadili yake ya mazingira. Sun2o ilipata wamiliki wengi wa ardhi na jamii za vijijini wanaotamani kuwa mwenyeji wa paneli za jua. Lakini ilijitahidi kupata nafasi ya bei nafuu kwenye mistari ya umeme ili iweze kutuma nishati hiyo kwa huduma ambazo zinahitaji zaidi nishati mbadala. Kuhamisha nguvu magharibi juu ya Cascades ina maana ya kupata upatikanaji wa Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) mtandao wa kikanda, kaskazini magharibi's maambukizi mgongo. Mtandao huo unazidi kuongezeka kadiri miradi ya nishati mbadala inavyoongezeka. "BPA ina kama 28 gigawatts ya maombi ya jua, upepo na kuhifadhi, ""anasema Kupersmith." "Hiyo itakuwa kushinikiza mifumo kwa mipaka yao". Na hiyo ilikuwa kabla ya Oregon kupitisha moja ya Amerika ya Kaskazini'mchango zaidi decarbonization mipango. Muswada huo, ambao Gavana. Katy Brown, ambaye ni mwandishi wa habari wa habari, amesema sheria hiyo inahitaji kampuni za Oregon kutoa umeme wa 80% bila kaboni ifikapo mwaka 2030, ikilinganishwa na chini ya 50% leo. Mkataba huo unatoa amri ya kutengeneza umeme usio na kaboni kwa asilimia 100 ifikapo mwaka 2040, miaka mitano kabla ya tarehe ya mwisho iliyowekwa na jimbo la Washington na California. Bonneville yenyewe iko katika hali ngumu. Kampuni hiyo ya serikali ya Marekani imekumbwa na matatizo ya kifedha kutokana na kuongezeka kwa gharama za kudumisha mabwawa ya zamani na kuboresha uvuvi wa samaki wa samaki na kupungua kwa mapato kwa sababu wateja wanakimbilia kwa wauzaji wa bei nafuu. Kupiga kizuizi cha usambazaji kulimchochea Kupersmith kupendekeza nyaya za Cascade. "Wakati huo huo, kampuni ya PowerBridge ilijenga ""mstari wa usafirishaji"" kwenye Mto Hudson ili kupunguza matatizo ya umeme katika jiji la New York." "Kabla ya hapo, aliona kebo iliyoingizwa chini ya maji kama njia ya mwisho ya kuzunguka upinzani wa mistari ya juu ambayo imeharibu juhudi za zamani za upanuzi wa gridi huko Cascadia na mara nyingi huunganisha miradi kote bara.""" Mshirika wa Kupersmith katika PowerBridge, Chris Hocker, anaita mistari ya juu "ya shida sana", akibainisha kwamba inaweza kuchukua muongo mmoja au zaidi kujenga. Kinyume chake, yeye na Kupersmith wanatarajia nyaya zao za Columbia zitaanza kusukuma umeme katika miaka mitano tu - kasi ya umeme kwa usafirishaji mpya. Bila shaka, hilo hutegemea idhini ya serikali na jamii. Mkataba huo ulifanyika na makabila manne ya asili ya eneo hilo, pamoja na kabila la Wakindia la Yakama na kabila la Wakindia wa Cowlitz. Kupersmith alisema walikuwa na matumaini ya kukutana mapema lakini walicheleweshwa na janga hilo na hamu ya kufanya mashauriano binafsi. "Kama ilivyoelezwa na mwanaharakati wa Kah-Milt-Pa, Elaine Harvey, ""Mstari wa umeme katika Columbia utaongeza kwenye rundo la maendeleo ya nishati yenye kuharibu kwa miongo kadhaa.""" Mwaka 1957 msitu wa Dalles ulijengwa, na kuharibiwa kwa samaki wengi duniani. Bwawa la Dalles lilitoa nishati kwa kituo cha chini cha Big Eddy, ambapo Kupersmith na washirika wake wanatumaini kuunganisha kwenye gridi ya kikanda ya BPA, na ambayo ina ushirika wake mwenyewe wa uchungu kwa makabila ya ndani. Bwawa la Dalles lenye urefu wa futi 60 lilificha maporomoko ya maji ya Celilo Falls, ambapo wavuvi wenye ujasiri wakati mmoja walikamata samaki aina ya salmon na steelhead. Bwawa hilo pia lilificha vijiji vilivyo karibu, ambavyo vilikuwa mahali pa kukusanyika kwa wafanyabiashara kutoka makabila ya kaskazini-magharibi. Kabla ya bwawa hilo, lilikuwa eneo la kale zaidi la Amerika Kaskazini lililokuwa na makazi ya binadamu. Matusi hayo ya kihistoria na hasara nyingine bado ni safi zaidi ya nusu karne baadaye, wakati jamii za wenyeji zinapambana na utamaduni wa wakazi ambao mara nyingi huonekana kuwa hawawezi kusikia wasiwasi wao. Harvey anaona kwamba kutokuwa na uwezo kuonekana katika mradi mwingine uliopendekezwa wa kuimarisha gridi ambayo yeye anapigana, tu juu ya mto kutoka The Dalles. Mradi wa kuhifadhi nishati wa Goldendale unatarajiwa kujenga mabwawa mawili ya maji ya maji ya 60 ekari, moja kando ya mto na nyingine juu ya mwamba. Kwa kuhamisha maji ya Mto Columbia kati ya mabwawa hayo, mradi huo ungehifadhi na kutolea nishati kama betri kubwa. Mradi huo unakabiliwa na upinzani mkali kutoka kwa Taifa la Yakama, ambao eneo hilo ni takatifu sana. Hadithi za Wakama zinakumbuka miamba kama kimbilio wakati wa mafuriko makubwa katika milenia zilizopita, na Harvey anasema bendi yake bado inatafuta chakula huko kwa ajili ya "vyakula vya kwanza" muhimu kiutamaduni, kama vile parsley ya jangwa. Tayari wamepoteza nafasi nyingi za kutafuta chakula kwa sababu mashamba ya upepo yamejenga mipaka kwenye maeneo makubwa. Mmiliki mmoja tu wa ardhi mwenye shamba la upepo huruhusu watu wa Harvey kuingia na kukusanya mimea ya jadi, anasema. Harvey anauliza ikiwa uvamizi wa maendeleo katika Bonde la Columbia ni muhimu. "Ameuliza ni nani wanaotarajiwa kufaidika na miradi hiyo, akibainisha kwa kutilia shaka ""mstari wa haraka"" unaoendesha kati ya kituo cha BPA cha Big Eddy na Los Angeles." Mstari wa Express ulijengwa katika miaka ya 1960 ili kusaidia umeme wa California. Katika wakati ujao, nishati ya jua ya ziada yaweza kuenea kaskazini wakati jua linapoinuka. Lakini leo, matumizi ya msingi ya mistari bado ni usafirishaji wa umeme wa maji kutoka mabwawa ya Mto Columbia na British Columbia kusini hadi California. Harvey anataka kujua ambapo maendeleo yatasimama. <unk>Hii itasababisha nini? Je, hii itaongoza kwa upepo (turbines) chini ya katikati ya mto? Ni nini kinachotokea baadaye? Mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa pia yanamshtua Harvey. Akiwa mwanabiolojia wa mafunzo, anajua kwamba maji yenye joto zaidi ni tisho linalokua kwa uvuvi wa Columbia unaopambana. Harvey anafikiri kwamba suluhisho jingine linahitaji kuzingatiwa. Vituo vya umeme vinavyoendeshwa kwa gesi vinaweza kuendeshwa kwa njia ya kuhifadhi CO2 zinazozalishwa. Utaratibu wa kukata miti kwa busara na ulinzi wa pwani unaweza kuongeza uwezo wa misitu ya ndani na misitu ya kelp ya kukamata CO2 ya angahewa. Paneli za jua za paa zinaweza kuzalisha nishati mahali inapohitajika zaidi. "Hawa ni watu ambao wamekuwa wakifanya kazi kwa muda mrefu, lakini kwa sasa wanaendelea kufanya kazi kwa bidii, ""Loren Goldberg, mwanasheria wa sheria na mtetezi wa mto, alisema katika taarifa yake ya wiki iliyopita." Goldberg, ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi kwa miaka 15 katika kampuni ya Columbia Riverkeeper, anaona mafuta ya makaa ya mawe na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa kuwa vitisho vya kuwepo kwa mto huo na jamii zinazotegemea mto huo. Hii ni sababu Riverkeeper imekuwa nguzo kuu katika harakati ya "Mstari wa Kijani mwembamba" ambayo imezuia juhudi nyingi za kushinikiza makaa ya mawe zaidi, mafuta na gesi asilia ya asili chini ya mistari ya reli inayopita kwenye Gorge. Na hiyo ndiyo sababu inasaidia uzalishaji wa nishati safi. "Mto Columbia tayari unaathiriwa na mgogoro wa hali ya hewa, na makadirio ni mabaya", anasema Goldberg. Goldberg anasema maendeleo mengi ya nishati ya kijani yametokea katika Bonde la Columbia, na anatarajia kwamba itaendelea. Lakini hiyo haimaanishi kila mradi ambao hujitaja kuwa wa mbadala na kijani hupata kibali. Na hata kama nyaya za umeme zilizozamishwa zinachukuliwa kuwa muhimu kwa mabadiliko ya nishati, kwa Goldberg uwezo wao wa kupunguza kaboni lazima upite athari zao za moja kwa moja za mazingira. "Iwe ni nishati inayobadilika au nishati ya visukuku, tunahitaji kuelewa jinsi mradi utaathiri watu ambao hutegemea Columbia kwa samaki na maji safi", anasema Goldberg. Goldberg alisema kuwa kuzikwa kwa nyaya za umeme zenye urefu wa maili 100 katika mto huo ni wazo ambalo Riverkeeper bado haijawahi kukabiliana nalo. Kwa kutegemea uzoefu na utafiti wa awali, Goldberg anatambua masuala kadhaa. Moja ni athari ya kuchochea matope. "Wakati mwingine, ""Columbia"" ni ""mzuri sana, lakini kwa njia yoyote ni ""safi"" - athari nyingine ya uwezekano zilizotajwa na Goldberg inaweza kuja kutoka mashamba ya umeme yanayotokana na nyaya za umeme." Utafiti uliofanywa na Shirika la Marekani la Usimamizi wa Nishati ya Bahari (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) ulichunguza mashamba ya sumaku yanayotokana na nyaya zinazofanana zilizowekwa katika Ghuba ya San Francisco. Cables hizo zilisaidia kupunguza utegemezi wa San Francisco kwenye mitambo ya umeme inayotumia gesi. Utafiti huo uligundua kuwa kebo hizo zina athari kwa samaki wanaohama kama vile samaki aina ya salmon, ambao husafiri kwa kugundua uwanja wa sumaku wa dunia. Kwa mfano, kebo hizo ziliongeza uwezekano wa samaki hao kugeuka njia isiyofaa na hivyo kurefusha safari yao ya kwenda baharini. Lakini haikugundua uthibitisho wowote kwamba samaki waliumizwa. Ilikuwa kana kwamba samaki walifaulu sana kusafiri kupitia ghuba hiyo baada ya nyaya hizo kuanzishwa. Ripoti hii ni sehemu ya Getting to Zero, mpango wa ripoti wa mwaka mzima wa InvestigateWest juu ya kupunguza kaboni katika mkoa wa Cascadia. Kazi ya InvestigateWest inasaidiwa kwa sehemu na Mfuko wa Uandishi wa Habari wa Uchunguzi.