RENEGOTIATING THE COLUMBIA RIVER TREATY

   Vancouver Sun:  Canadian negotiators are not budging on a request by their American counterparts to reduce an electricity entitlement under a treaty that the United States says is worth as much as $200 million a year.
   The Columbia River Treaty, which expires in six years, was ratified in 1964 to address flooding concerns in the United States and the growing demand for energy.
   American negotiators have said they want to add environmental measures to the agreement that would empower it to request Canada release more water to improve salmon habitats. Katrine Conroy, a British Columbia cabinet minister and one of Canada’s lead representatives on the file says that won’t necessarily mean giving the United States more power to increase water flow from Canada, which could leave those B.C. communities in the basin dry.