The agreement to fund the Skagit Hydroelectric Project for the next five decades marks the culmination of years of negotiations between local tribes and the city.
SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is expected to sign a multi-billion dollar settlement on Tuesday that will end years of negotiation between the city and local tribes.
The $4 billion relicensing agreement addresses environmental and cultural concerns tied to Seattle City Light’s three dams on the Upper Skagit River. The settlement includes $979 million to build fish passage at all three dams, as well as payments for tribes and funding for habitat restoration.
KING 5 has reported on the issue for years as part of the series “Skagit: River of Light and Loss.”
The signing ceremony will be streamed on KING 5 mobile and TV apps, as well as king5.com at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
The utility had spent years resisting fish passage requirements, relying on century-old studies to argue the upper Skagit was naturally inaccessible to salmon — a claim disputed by federal agencies, state wildlife officials, and multiple tribal nations.
The turning point came in 2019, when tribal and government researchers captured video of Chinook salmon spawning in a stretch of river the utility’s own science said fish couldn’t reach. That discovery, combined with additional documented sightings, unraveled the city’s central argument.
The settlement, formally announced March 5, is part of an environmental package tied to the dams’ federal relicensing. It was reached after years of negotiations with the Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, Swinomish, and Lummi tribes, alongside federal and state agencies.
The dams have blocked roughly 40% of Skagit River habitat from migrating fish for nearly a century — fish that are critical both to endangered Southern Resident orcas and to tribal communities whose culture and food sovereignty depend on them.
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