Frustrated thus far by federal Columbia River Basin hydrosystem operators' response, Montana's Northwest Power Planning Council members said this week they plan to submit a formal request that Libby and Hungry Horse dams be operated as stated in the Council's newly revised "Mainstem Plan."
A funding recommendation made Wednesday by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council succeeds in balancing its fish and wildlife program budgets for the next three fiscal years but leaves numerous proposals on the outside, including some desired by the program's funding source, the Bonneville Power Administration.
Fish and wildlife managers, researchers and federal officials chafed this week as many of their favored project proposals were left off the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's recommended short list for funding through the mainstem/systemwide category of the NPCC's fish and wildlife program.
Idaho's role in anadromous fish recovery and the future of the 2000 biological opinion regarding government programs on salmon and steelhead recovery will be the focus of dual hearings and meetings in both Idaho and Washington, D.C.
The governors of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington on Thursday banded together to proclaim their support for a federal Columbia River salmon and steelhead recovery plan that has been judged inadequate by a federal court.
The federal strategy is working, the governors said, and should be left in place while the federal agencies address concerns about it expressed by U.S. District Court Judge James L. Redden in a May 7 order.
The harms, potentially, outweigh the benefits of supplementing naturally spawning salmon and steelhead populations with infusions of hatchery fish in most situations, according to a scientific panel.
But the magnitude of the effects produced from those wild/hatchery integrations -- positive or negative -- cannot at this point be accurately measured, says the Independent Scientific Advisory Board's June 4 report.
Northwest tribal officials this week asked members of Congress for greater oversight and accountability of the Bonneville Power Administration's finances and performance in meeting salmon recovery and other fish and wildlife obligations.
The head of the federal power marketing agency defended its decision to reduce the budget for fish and wildlife mitigation projects by tribes and others but promised to improve consultation with affected tribes in the future.
Fishing and conservation groups say that a federal Columbia/Snake river salmon protection plan could do more harm than good if left in place while its makers undertake a court-ordered revision to bring it into compliance with the Endangered Species Act and other statutes.
A NOAA Fisheries "findings letter" generally gives good grades to the three action agencies charged with implementing actions designed to avoid jeopardizing the survival of salmon and steelhead stocks passing through the Federal Columbia River Power System.
The forecast return of "upriver" spring chinook salmon to the Columbia River was revised upward again this week, allowing tribal treaty fishers an unexpected chance to open their second commercial gillnet fishing period of the season.
A federal judge, and the lead attorneys for those involved in the lawsuit, agreed today (May 16) that the federal government should be allowed a year to recast a Columbia River Basin salmon recovery plan that was judged by the court last week to be legally flawed.
Northwest members of Congress of both parties remain opposed to breaching dams despite a federal judge's ruling against the 2000 salmon recovery plan that was touted as an alternative to dam removal.
But some members believe the judge's order for federal agencies to rework the plan may be an opportunity to improve it.
A Portland-based U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday ruled that a federal salmon recovery strategy adopted in December 2000 is illegal because it relies improperly on actions that are not "reasonably certain to occur."
A federal court decision this week that sends federal salmon recovery strategists back to the drawing board is seen by some that are party to the lawsuit as vindication.
Others see it as an opportunity for a mid-course correction of what is essentially, they say, a sound Columbia River basin salmon recovery plan.
The Bonneville Power Administration has reached an agreement with representatives of Enron's creditors terminating all remaining contracts with the bankrupt company.
BPA estimates the action will reduce a proposed 15 percent wholesale rate increase by about 2 percent.
Oregon and Washington fishery managers on Monday exhibited their math skills as they tried to keep a mainstem Columbia River sport fleet afloat and maximize a targeted, commercial spring chinook salmon fishery.
Northwest fisheries managers over the last couple of weeks have asked federal agencies, Grant County Public Utility District and other mid-Columbia River dam operators to modify their dam operations to reduce the size of flow fluctuations at Priest Rapids Dam that they say is causing increased mortality of fall chinook fry emerging and rearing along Hanford Reach.
The U.S. Senate is expected to begin debate next week on a comprehensive energy bill that would enact controversial hydroelectric relicensing reforms and expand federal rate-setting authority over the Bonneville Power Administration's transmission system.
A federal judge who has said he is predisposed toward overturning the federal government's plan for Columbia River basin salmon recovery said Monday he gained "food for thought" from hearing oral arguments in the lawsuit pressed by conservation groups.
Lower Columbia River commercial fishermen have again been victims of a 2003 spring chinook return that defied, at least to this point, all predictions about when, where and how the salmon migration would proceed.
The federal judge presiding in a lawsuit that challenges federal salmon recovery strategies in the Columbia Basin this week issued a "draft opinion" that would -- if it were his final call -- force the agencies involved to rework the plan commonly referred to as the Biological Opinion, or "BiOp."
Hydro operating agencies and to a lesser extent fisheries agencies agreed this week that operations at lower Snake River reservoirs will remain at higher than the minimum operating pools (MOP) in order to give tugboat operators the depth they need to navigate certain sections of the river.
Hard work, experimentation and compromise were the words uttered most often Thursday as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council caught its collective breath, and approved unanimously amendments to the Columbia/Snake river mainstem portion of its fish and wildlife program.
The Bonneville Power Administration is refinancing as much of its high interest U.S. Treasury debt as possible now, when market interest rates are low, and prepaying its higher cost federal debt.
Such moves, the agency said, will lower its debt payments and enhance its ability to borrow money in the future.
A provision of the NOAA Fisheries 2000 biological opinion calls for the Bureau of Reclamation to begin implementing habitat projects, such as providing screens at irrigation diversions, but the agency must get congressional authorization before it can begin the work. That authorization could also bring with it additional money to address Northwest fish and wildlife issues.
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