Cantwell Celebrates $57.8 Million Funding for Fish Passage & Water Infrastructure Projects in Chelan, Grant, and Kittitas County

Cantwell Celebrates $57.8 Million Funding for Fish Passage & Water Infrastructure Projects in Chelan, Grant, and Kittitas County

Leavenworth Fisheries Complex, West Canal Replacement, and Roza Dam Fish Screen Modification received funding from Cantwell-supported Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act

WASHINGTON. D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, celebrated the announcement of $57.8 million in funding for three critical projects in Washington state. These grants come from U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, both of which Senator Cantwell championed.

Below is a breakdown of the funding announcements:

Leavenworth Fisheries Complex (Chelan County) -- $40 million: Funding will support the planning, design, and implementation of the Surface Water Intake Fish Screen and Fish Passage facility and the Winthrop Circular Tanks projects to enhance the hatchery's ability to meet its salmon and steelhead spawning requirements in the Upper Columbia River.

West Canal Replacement (Grant County) -- $4.5 million: Funding will help replace the existing concrete liner in the canal with a new geomembrane liner that prevents leaks and stops fluid from contaminating soil or ground water and construct a new groundwater collection system. Funding is provided to complete a planning study, and a portion of design and project implementation.

Roza Dam Fish Screen Modification (Kittitas County) -- $13.35 million: Funding will help replace the current non-compliant fish screen with a modern rotating drum screen at Roza Dam. The new screen will be an in-river, self-baffling, self-cleaning, rotating T-Screen system to ensure safer fish passage and still supply the needed volume of irrigation and power generation water.

Sen. Cantwell is a steadfast champion of policies to restore salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest; she secured a historic $2.85 billion investment in salmon eligible and ecosystem restoration programs in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), including $400 million of a new community-based restoration program focused on removing fish passage barriers. Sen. Cantwell's National Culvert Removal, Replacement, and Restoration Grant Program builds on the additional $2 billion to support fish passage included in the BIL and specifically helps communities remove and repair culverts found under roads. Sen. Cantwell also secured $2.6 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act for Coastal Communities and Climate Resistance projects, including competitive and block grants for coastal states, Tribal governments, academic institutions, non-profits, and state governments to fund projects that will support climate resilience of coastal communities, fishery stock assessments, and salmon recovery.