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Interior Secretary Zinke wants Spokane Tribe compensated...

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The largest producer of hydroelectric power in the country, Grand Coulee Dam was the largest concrete structure in the world when built, containing 11,975,521 cubic yards of concrete. It remains the largest concrete structure in the country.

Undoubtedly the largest single project of the Public Works Administration, construction of the Grand Coulee Dam began in 1933, not being completed until 1941, just in time to provide power for wartime industry of the Pacific Northwest. $63 million was allocated for the initial phase of construction, with the final cost coming to $163 million in 1943 dollars. However, repairs due to design flaws and to finish the power stations through the '40s and '50s added another $107 million, bringing the total cost to $270 million. The later addition of the Third Powerplant from 1967 to 1974 added another $460 million, bringing the final cost in 1973 to $730 million. Construction of the dam also cost the lives of 77 of the thousands of workmen employed on the project, with an additional four men killed during the construction of the Third Power Plant and Forebay Dam from 1967 to 1975.

Grand Coulee Dam remains the largest dam in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Initially conceived to provide irrigation, the dam quickly came to be seen as a three fold resource, providing not only water to irrigate more than 671,000 acres, but also providing flood control of the Columbia River and producing 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually. With a generating capacity of 6,809 megawatts, far and away the most of any hydro facility in the country, the dam produces electricity for all or parts of eleven states. This mammoth structure stands 550 feet high and is 1.2 miles wide. Within the dam's three powerhouses are no less than 33 turbines and generators, the main generators varying in size from 150,000 horsepower to 1,053,900 horsepower.

Lake Roosevelt, impounded behind the dam, covers 82,300 acres, stretching 151 miles to the Canadian border, with a storage capacity of 9,562,000 acre feet of water. The lake provides recreational opportunities for a million people each year, with 35 campgrounds around the lake and several more boat launches.

The above sounds so hopeful and optimistic that one may fail to realize that the construction of projects of this magnitude are almost inevitably accompanied by a down side. Two major downsides to the damming of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam were the displacement of thousands of residents and the blockage of salmon heading upstream to spawn. Those most adversely affected were the native peoples of the Columbia valley who lost not only tribal lands, but a staple food source in the salmon. While some compensation has been given, more is required in order to right the wrongs done many years ago. Some more detail is provided below by the Spokane Spokesman Review.

Interior Secretary Zinke wants
Spokane Tribe compensated
for loss of land and lifestyle
to Grand Coulee Dam

Becky Kramer | March 28, 2018

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited the Spokane Indian Reservation on Thursday, where he pledged to support compensation for Grand Coulee Dam’s impact on the tribe’s lands and traditional livelihood.

The massive dam was built without fish ladders more than 75 years ago, cutting off critical salmon runs to the Spokane and upper Columbia rivers. Tribal lands were flooded, forcing families to leave homes and farms...

...The former Montana congressman met with tribal leaders during a 24-hour road trip across Washington. Zinke, who is an adopted member of the Assiniboine Sioux Tribe, said the meetings were a chance “to put a face with the nation.”

Carol Evans, chairwoman of the Spokane Tribe, presented Zinke with “gifts from the heart” and thanked him for the visit. He accepted moose and elk jerky, huckleberry jam and a string tie beaded with the image of a war bonnet.

Zinke planned to stop at Grand Coulee Dam – his first visit there – on the way to a meeting with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. His trip was scheduled to end Friday on the Lummi Reservation near Bellingham....

...In 1994, with the help of then-House Speaker Tom Foley, the Colville Tribe received a $53 million settlement, plus annual payments based on power production and prices. In contrast, the Spokane Tribe received an initial payment of $4,700 for damage caused by the dam, but has not been able to renegotiate the settlement.

Under legislation sponsored last year by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, the Spokane Tribe would have received a $53 million settlement compensating the tribe for the use of its lands for decades of hydropower production.

In February, however, the bill was amended. If passed, the Spokane Tribe would receive annual payments for the use of its submerged lands beginning in 2020.

Settlement legislation has been introduced every year since 2000, but has never passed in both the Senate and the House.

Scott Wheat, an attorney for the Spokane Tribe, said older relatives from his wife’s family often talked about how Grand Coulee Dam changed the river.

Fred Samuels, one of the elders, had a picture of himself with a huge chinook salmon strapped on his horse. He caught the salmon in the lower Spokane River before Grand Coulee’s construction blocked the runs.

“They may not have had a lot of economic opportunity off of the reservation,” Wheat said, “but they had an abundance of resources to provide for themselves.”
From the Spokane Spokesman Review