A Northwest senator is seeking a federal feasibility study of pumping
irrigation water from the Columbia River in exchange for reducing
diversions from the Yakima River.
At least some members of the group charged with judging the
Columbia-Snake river hydrosystem's technical fixes for fish want more
time to evaluate what they call "questionable conclusions" drawn in a
Corps of Engineer Phase I report on potential John Day reservoir
drawdown.
The Columbia River estuary offers the region an important opportunity to
improve salmon survival.
Environmental groups and commercial fishermen filed suit this week
against the National Marine Fisheries Service saying the agency's
biological opinion of a project to deepen the Columbia
River shipping channel lacked scientific foundation and will harm young salmon.
Umatilla Mayor George Hash led the cheers Wednesday when the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers shared its draft recommendation for no further study
and, consequently, no drawdown for the John Day Dam.
The Corps of Engineers judged that benefits to fish are too few, and the economic costs too great, to pursue further studies aimed at determining the viability of either breaching John Day Dam or drawing down its reservoir to enhance the survival of listed Snake River salmon and steelhead species.
Politicians and business interests say the Corps of Engineers' John Day Dam recommendation makes perfect sense.
About 13 miles of salmon spawning and rearing habitat in the lower
Columbia River estuary could be recovered if improvements suggested by a
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' environmental assessment are approved.
A supplemental biological opinion completed last month blesses a plan to
continue federal operations which times the release of 427,000 acre feet
of reservoir water in Idaho to coincide, primarily, with the migration
of Snake River fall chinook salmon listed Endangered Species Act.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
