John,

Earlier this week, we emailed about salmon and the plight of the Snake River in Eastern Washington. Without a plan to address this vital waterway, the salmon face extinction.

After decades of inaction, communities that depend on these species cannot wait any longer.

Anglers, business owners, irrigators, public utilities, and local governments throughout the region are calling for solutions. Northwest tribes and Native people whose ceremony, culture, and economies are built around salmon have called on Congress to pass a solution that restores salmon by removing the lower Snake River dams. The Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance signed on in solidarity.

Washington leaders continue to ask us to wait — but if we wait any longer, we'll run out of time to save the salmon and the communities that depend on them. 

We have a narrow opportunity to restore salmon through a first-of-its-kind infrastructure plan, proposed by Idaho Representative Simpson, that would remove the lower Snake River dams while investing in agriculture, tribes, habitat, and communities all across the Northwest.

The smart infrastructure investments proposed by Rep. Simpson will create tens of thousands of jobs in energy, transportation, and recreation that includes a vision for a revitalized waterfront economy in Lewiston-Clarkston, and throughout a restored Snake River Corridor.

We can’t let the Northwest lose out on new investments, worth $33.5 billion, that will have everlasting benefits for people and the environment.

Take action now! Demand your Member of Congress commit to solutions that bring back salmon, honor treaties and commitment to the tribes, invest in clean energy and agriculture, and strengthen the economy of the Pacific Northwest. Ask them to include Simpson’s solution in President Biden’s national infrastructure legislation.

Our salmon and communities cannot wait any longer. The cost of inaction is too great. The time for leadership and action is now.