Murray blasts Trump administration for cutting Hanson Dam funds

Washington Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and leaders of the Covington Water District and Tacoma Public Utilities blasted the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate funding of a fish passage and water storage project at the Howard Hanson Dam along the Green River.

Congress had approved $500 million in funding this year for the project, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers work plan released May 15 didn’t include any money for Hanson Dam, said Murray, who added the Trump plan moves money from blue states to projects in red states.

“President Trump’s Army Corps construction plan utterly tramples all of the careful, painstaking negotiations we did in Congress to reach a bipartisan understating about what projects need funding, and replaces it with his own partisan vision—a vision that rips away hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from blue states like mine,” Murray said during a Friday, May 16 virtual press conference. “There is just no getting around it: this plan is utterly partisan—and sets a truly egregious precedent. We should all be outraged.”

Murray said the balance of states Trump wants to give more funding to, and the states he wants to cut funding from—is completely lopsided—roughly two-thirds for red states, and one-third for blue states.

“For comparison, the budget request, our bipartisan Senate bill, and yes, even House Republicans’ bill, split funding between red and blue states about 50-50,” Murray said. “We are talking about critical Army Corps projects to maintain and build foundational water infrastructure, from dredging for our ports, to protecting communities from flood waters, or maintaining major dams.”

In the draft fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill Murray cleared unanimously out of committee last year, she secured $500 million for the construction of a fish passage facility, which would also address flood risk and water supply issues for cities like Tacoma and Covington, according to a Murray press release.

The city of Kent also receives a portion of its water from the Green River through Tacoma Public Utilities. Kent gets much of its water from the Clark Springs watershed, fed by the Cedar River.

A total of $500 million was also included in the House’s draft fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill. The funding is needed to execute a construction option on the contract for the project, which would have allowed construction to begin in 2026 as scheduled.

“Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) has made significant investments in the Howard A. Hanson Dam for decades,” said Heather Pennington, TPU water superintendent. “This project is one of the most significant steps toward ensuring long-term water reliability for over one million people across our broader region—not just for today, but for generations to come.”

Hanson Dam opened in 1962 and helps protect the cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton and Tukwila from flooding. It is an earthen dam on the Green River, about 20 miles southeast of Kent. But the dam continues to be a barrier for migrating salmon.

The Army Corps awarded a $657 million contract in October 2024 for the Hanson Dam project, with design to be done this year and construction to start in 2026. The project also would create more water storage area behind the dam.

“We are excited to support salmon and Orca recovery with our tribal partners, federal and state agencies, and our non-federal sponsor Tacoma Public Utilities to ensure completion of this downstream fish passage facility and support the regional water supply,” said Col. Kathryn Sanborn, Army Corps Seattle District commander, after the awarding of the contract.

Thomas Keown, general manager of the Covington Water District, said without this project his district may not have enough summertime supply to meet customer needs as early as the mid-2030s.

“That’s not very far from now folks,” Keown said during the virtua press conference. “For the district, it feels like we purchased a four- bedroom home, but having the builder tell us we can occupy two bedrooms. Not to mention, this action will further delay access for endangered salmon to over 100 miles of pristine spawning habitat above Howard Hanson Dam.”

Keown said it’s so unfair on many levels.

“For instance, the decision is also unfair to the many local stakeholders who have invested time and money, hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in infrastructure and watershed benefits in and along the Green River in preparation of the project coming online,” Keown said. “This is now unfortunately shaping up as a waste of a perfectly good ‘shovel ready’ project that is likely to be mothballed for who knows how long.”

Previous plans for the project started in 1999, according to an earlier Kent Reporter article.

Authorized by Congress in 1999, the project sought to both increase the dam’s water storage to the tune of more than 30,000 acre-feet, which would aid its flood control and water management abilities, and to improve the prospects for fish in the river by giving them a way through the dams. But it ground to a halt about a decade ago when the projected costs started exceeding congressionally authorizing funding limits.

In 2019, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ordered the Corps to figure it out and finish the fish passage facility no later than 2030. A year later, all of Washington state’s congressmembers came together to formally call upon the Army Corps to prioritize salmon passage at the dam.

Washington Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell issued the following statement about the Trump administration taking funds away from the Hanson Dam.

“Constructing fish passage at Howard Hanson Dam was key to reopening at least 60 miles of prime salmon and steelhead habitat, nearly doubling Green River spawning grounds for endangered salmon and steelhead,” Cantwell said. “Withholding funding for this project is a stab in the back to tribal, commercial, and recreational fishing families. It also amounts to an abandonment of our commitment to tribal treaty rights, and ignores federal law intended to protect salmon.”