The agreement to fund the Skagit hydroelectric project for the next five years marks the culmination of years of negotiations between local tribes and the city.
SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson signed a multibillion-dollar settlement on Tuesday, ending years of negotiations between the city and local tribes.
this $4 billion sublicense agreement Address environmental and cultural issues related to Seattle City Light’s three dams on the upper Skagit River. The settlement includes $979 million to build fish passages at all three dams, as well as payments to tribes and habitat restoration funds.
KING 5 Yes This issue has been reported for years As part of the “Skagit: Rivers of Light and Lost” series.
The utility has resisted fish-passage requirements for years, relying on century-old research that concluded salmon are naturally inaccessible to the upper Skagit — a claim disputed by federal agencies, state wildlife officials and multiple tribal nations.
The turning point came in 2019, when tribal and government researchers captured video of Chinook salmon spawning in a stretch of river that the utility’s own science said the fish couldn’t reach. This discovery, along with other documented sightings, illuminates the city’s core argument.
The settlement, formally announced on March 5, is part of an environmental plan related to the dam’s federal relicensing. The agreement comes after years of negotiations with the Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suatl, Swinomish and Lummi tribes, as well as federal and state agencies.
For nearly a century, these dams have blocked the migration of fish in about 40 percent of the Skagit River’s habitat—fish species critical to endangered southern killer whales and the tribal communities that depend on them for culture and food sovereignty.
