Climate Change
After a Century Powering Its Growth with Dams, Seattle Settles With Tribes That Lost Their River
As part of its relicensing of three dams on the Skagit River, Seattle City Light is paying $1.35 billion to three tribes, which will raise electricity rates but help the river and reservations.
NEWHALEM, Wash.—More than a century ago, Seattle City Light broke ground for a massive hydroelectric project here in a remote gorge of the North Cascades. Three dams soon powered the rise of what would become one of America’s richest and most liberal cities.
After a Century Powering Its Growth with Dams, Seattle Settles With Tribes That Lost Their River