Kate Brown’s former chief of staff appointed to federal Columbia River Task Force
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s chief of staff has been selected as the first leader of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Columbia River Task Force.
The task force was formed by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and will be co-chaired by three U.S. agencies. The group is responsible for fulfilling federal leaders’ 10-year partnership with tribes and states in the Lower Basin.
OHSU layoffs will mostly affect staff in ‘communications, marketing and other services’
Officials named Nik Blosser as the task force’s executive director earlier this week.
“I am honored to lead the new Task Force, which will coordinate efforts across the federal government and partner with states and Tribal governments to restore native fish populations while ensuring communities and businesses continue to have reliable clean energy in the region,” Blosser said in a statement.
The executive director served as Brown’s chief of staff from February 2017 to November 2020, when it was announced he would join the Biden-Harris administration’s transition team. He is also a “second-generation winegrower” of the Sokol Blosser family, which owns the namesake winery in Dayton.
As leader of the task force, Blosser will work alongside co-chair Deputy Secretary of Energy Dave Turk and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Janet Coit and Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis.
19 Oregon firefighters help battle ‘out of control’ wildfires in New Mexico
Along with the announcement, the U.S. Department of the Interior published an analysis on the harmful effects of federal Columbia River dams on tribal communities.
The task force aims to improve on the “historic, ongoing, and cumulative impacts” of the dams.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
