In a sweeping rebuke of the Biden Administration’s climate agenda, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum on Thursday rescinding policies aimed at breaching the four lower Snake River dams in Washington state. The move preserves more than 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power—enough to supply 2.5 million homes—and simultaneously ends Washington’s looming electric vehicle mandate.
The announcement, titled “President Donald J. Trump Stops the Green Agenda in the Columbia River Basin,” was hailed by conservatives as a victory for energy reliability, economic growth, and science-based environmentalism.
“It made no sense to destroy dams that provide 7% of Washington’s electricity at a time when demand is growing due to data centers and EVs. It was an absurd idea.”@WAPolicyGreen discusses the 'Dam Good News that Trump blocked the destruction of the Snake River Dams pic.twitter.com/VhW4Py7SAc
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) June 13, 2025
“This is fantastic news,” said Todd Myers, Vice President of Research at the Washington Policy Center, in an interview on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI. “It made no sense to destroy dams that provide 7% of Washington’s electricity at a time when demand is growing due to data centers and EVs. It was an absurd idea.”
Blocking the EV Mandate
President Trump’s actions didn’t stop with the dams. He also signed legislation nullifying a federal waiver that enabled California—and by extension, Washington—to enforce a ban on new gas-powered cars. Washington had adopted California’s “Advanced Clean Cars II” rule, which required that 35% of new vehicles sold in 2026 be electric—up from about 22% today.
“There are no affordable, reliable electric semis,” Myers noted. “Washington’s mandate relied on a federal waiver under the Clean Air Act, but with that waiver rescinded, these mandates are now nullified in Washington as well.”
The move reopens the door for consumers to freely choose between electric and gas-powered vehicles, a principle Myers says is crucial. “You should be able to choose if an EV fits your lifestyle or if a gas guzzler fits your lifestyle. Maybe you want one of those giant RVs. There was a danger those wouldn’t be legal anymore.”
Protecting Power—and Salmon
Critics of the dam removal plan have long pointed to its massive economic and environmental consequences. The now-rescinded Biden-era Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), negotiated in secret with anti-dam activists, laid the groundwork for breaching the Snake River dams despite federal science recommending their preservation.
The Trump memorandum calls out the Biden plan for being based on politics, not science. A 2022 NOAA report advocating dam removal began with the words “The Biden-Harris Administration,” and explicitly stated that it did not replace or override previous scientific studies.
Myers agrees, saying the fixation on Snake River dams ignores broader salmon recovery needs. “The time and money spent trying to destroy the dams distracts us from meaningful efforts to help salmon across the entire Pacific Northwest. It’s a political obsession.”
Despite predictions by activists that Snake River salmon would be “functionally extinct” by now, Myers pointed out that spring Chinook returns this year are slightly above the 10-year average, and early projections for next year are even better.
Accountability Crisis in Washington’s Climate Bureaucracy
In addition to supporting Trump’s rollback of the dam and EV mandates, Myers is at the center of a lawsuit challenging Washington state agencies for failing to release carbon emissions data required by law. The Washington Department of Ecology and the Department of Commerce have not released up-to-date CO₂ figures since 2021, despite being legally obligated to do so every two years.
“We sued them to follow the law,” Myers explained. “They admitted they were violating it, but claimed the law is too hard to follow—and then said we don’t have standing as citizens to hold them accountable.”
A judge recently sided with the agencies, ruling that private citizens cannot sue to force compliance with the law. Myers and his team are considering an appeal.
“It is remarkable,” Myers said, “that the same agencies lecturing us about the existential crisis of climate change can’t even provide basic emissions data from three years ago. Yet they claim they can centrally plan our energy future through 2050.”
Myers doesn’t believe they’re hiding the data deliberately—just that they don’t care. “They already know what policies they want. The data are immaterial to the decisions they’ve made.”
A Dam Good Step Forward
With today’s memorandum, President Trump not only rescinded Biden’s plan to breach the dams but also directed multiple federal agencies—including Energy, Interior, Commerce, and the Army Corps of Engineers—to withdraw from the 2023 MOU and review environmental review processes to cut costs and restore commonsense energy policy.
“This doesn’t settle the issue,” said Myers, “but it’s a damn good step in the right direction—for our economy, our environment, and our freedom to choose.”
Congressman Dan Newhouse, who has led efforts to defend the dams in the House, was also praised for his tireless work.
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