The Washington Department of Ecology is updating the Middle Columbia River – Bonneville Pool Geographic Response Plan (GRP). An important part of the update process is hearing from the people who live, work, and play in the planning area. To facilitate this, a public comment period was open from Friday 3/1/2024 to Monday 4/1/2024. Ecology received zero comments.

​Description of the Area

The MCRB-GRP encompasses the Bonneville Pool (also known as Lake Bonneville), a 47-mile reach of the Columbia River. The planning area is oriented on a west-east axis the Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Lock and Dam (located at river mile 191.6). In Washington (i.e. the right bank of the river), portions of the Water Resource Inventory Areas Salmon-Washougal (WRIA 28), Wind-White Salmon (WRIA 29), and Klickitat (WRIA 30) are present. Also, one can find portions of the Oregon’s Watermaster Districts 3 and 20.

What are Geographic Response Plans?
GRPs are used to guide early response actions in the event of an oil spill. Ecology develops and updates GRPs in collaboration with state, local and federal agencies and tribes. Each GRP is written for a specific area (for example a river, a lake, or section of Puget Sound), and includes tactical response strategies tailored to a particular shore or waterway at risk of injury from oil.

GRPs have two main objectives:

  • Identify sensitive natural, cultural or significant economic resources at risk of injury from oil spills.
  • Describe and prioritize response strategies in an effort to reduce injury to sensitive natural, cultural, and certain economic resources at risk from oil spills.

The Washington Legislature requires additional planning relating to oils that may not remain floating on the surface, termed non-floating oils (NFOs), in order to maintain the state’s preparedness. This draft GRP contains updates relating to NFOs in the Non-Floating Oil Response Options and Resources at Risk sections of the GRP.

More Information

Questions

Max Gordon

Oil Spill Preparedness Planner

Max.gordon@ecy.wa.gov

360-972-4890