By the 1980s, residents and politicians across the Basin were lobbying the provincial government to address the social, environmental and economic impacts caused by the Columbia River Treaty dams. Recognizing a common cause, several lobbyists united to form the Columbia River Treaty Committee, which represented and advocated for Basin residents’ interests. When British Columbia secured a new agreement for its share of the Treaty’s downstream benefits in 1994, the CRTC entered negotiations for the Columbia Basin Accord, which would see these benefits delivered directly to the Basin in the form of both money and expansion.