By: Nigel Bankes
Matters Commented On: (1) Canada/US Exchange of Notes re Columbia River Treaty Assured Operating Plan for 2024-25, (September 18 and 20, 2024) and re Entity Agreement on the Interim Period Determination of Downstream Power Benefits (September 13, 16 and 17 September, 2024), (2) Canada/US Exchange of Notes Regarding Interim Pre-Planned Flood Risk Management Arrangements (November 18 and 22, 2024), and (3) Entity Agreement regarding Pre-Planned Flood Risk Management Arrangements (November 14 & 15, 2024).
PDF Version: The Modernization of the Columbia River Treaty: Interim Arrangements to Implement the Agreement-in-Principle
This post deals with the interim measures that the United States and Canada (the Parties) have adopted to address the temporal gap (the “Interim Period” between the Agreement-in-Principle (AiP) on a “modernized” Columbia River Treaty (CRT or Treaty) (1961)) adopted in mid-2024 and the conclusion and ratification of final modernized treaty text at some future time. In practice, the Parties and their operating Entities (see discussion of the term “Entities” below) are using the operational capability offered by the Treaty (and especially Article XIV(4)) to selectively implement some of the terms of the non-binding AiP. The Parties and their Entities have chosen to prioritize the early implementation of the changed flood control and power provisions of the AiP but have not extended that same priority to other elements of the AiP, including ecosystem considerations, and the creation of the Joint Ecosystem and Indigenous and Tribal Cultural Values Body (JEB). Neither do the interim arrangements address two groups of provisions in the AiP that were clearly intended to confer an advantage on Canada; first an additional annual compensation payment to Canada for “additional benefits” brought about by coordinated operations, and second, certain flexibility rules designed to allow Canada (British Columbia) to “undertake Treaty operations for domestic priorities, such as environmental, Indigenous cultural values and socioeconomic purposes.”