IV 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 126 Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should direct the Secretary of State to immediately issue a notice of intent to terminate the commercial and power coordination provisions of the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 9, 2020 Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself, Mr. SCHRADER, and Mr. WALDEN) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should direct the Secretary of State to immediately issue a notice of intent to terminate the commercial and power coordination provisions of the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada. Whereas the U.S. Entity Regional Recommendation for the Future of the Columbia River Treaty after 2024 was issued in December 2013 calling for the prompt renegoti- ation of the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada; Whereas Article XIX of the Columbia River Treaty allows the United States to issue a 10-year advance notice of its in- VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Dec 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC126.IH HC126 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HCON 126 IH tent to terminate the commercial and power coordination provisions of the Treaty; Whereas the first opportunity for the United States to issue a termination notice was in 2014; Whereas the U.S. Entity Regional Recommendation for the Future of the Columbia River Treaty after 2024 called upon the United States to pursue ‘‘other options’’ absent a renegotiated Treaty by 2015; Whereas the United States and Canada did not commence negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty until 2018; Whereas the United States and Canada have conducted 10 rounds of Columbia River Treaty negotiations since early 2018, including only two negotiating sessions in 2020; Whereas the Columbia River Treaty requires that Northwest electric ratepayers in the States of Idaho, Montana, Or- egon, and Washington annually send between $150 and $250 million of clean, renewable United States hydro- power north to British Columbia; Whereas in return, Canada provides the United States with a hydropower operation that creates less than $15 million in value; Whereas the United States Government’s failure to issue the termination notice in 2014, pursuant to Article XIX of the Columbia River Treaty, has cost Northwest electric ratepayers approximately $1 billion to date, a figure that grows each day; Whereas the notice of intent to terminate the commercial and power coordination provisions under Article XIX of the Columbia River Treaty does not impact the Treaty’s flood control provisions; and VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Dec 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC126.IH HC126 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HCON 126 IH Whereas the issuance of the notice of intent to terminate the commercial and power coordination provisions initiates a 10-year period for the United States and Canada to ne- gotiate a modernized Treaty equitable to both countries before any changes to the current Treaty enter into force: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 1 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the 2 President should direct the Secretary of State to imme- 3 diately issue a notice of intent to terminate the commercial 4 and power coordination provisions of the Columbia River 5 Treaty between the United States and Canada. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Dec 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HC126.IH HC126 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS