Seattle commits $979M to fish passage at Skagit River dams in FERC relicensing settlement. Seattle City Light reached a comprehensive settlement with tribes, federal and state agencies to guide the next 50 years of the Skagit Hydroelectric Project. The agreement includes $979 million for fish passage at Ross, Diablo, and Gorge dams, reconnecting habitat blocked for nearly a century. An additional $100 million funds mainstem river restoration and $75 million funds estuary restoration. Skagit County approved the agreement on March 30. A new FERC license is anticipated around 2030, with early implementation actions beginning spring 2026.
What this means for restoration portfolios. The Skagit settlement will generate new obligations for every restoration entity operating in the Skagit watershed and estuary — new coordination requirements, monitoring protocols, and habitat projects tied to the license terms. For entities already carrying fish passage obligations from other programs, this adds a 50-year funding and planning horizon that interacts with existing state and federal timelines. The settlement also illustrates the structural pattern visible across Freehold’s dataset of 50 Washington restoration entities: fish passage projects create some of the most complex portfolio interactions because they sit at the intersection of federal licensing, tribal co-management, state permitting, and local implementation.
Source: Seattle City Light, March 5, 2026; Skagit County approval March 30, 2026
Related Research
NWP 60: First standalone nationwide permit for fish passage projects · 57% of restoration entities have deadlines clustering in the same seasonal windows
Curious what your portfolio looks like?
Freehold assembles the structural picture that no single funding source can see.
Also: Findings › Funding Exposure