After more than five years of research conducted at a cost of $25
million, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced this week that major
systems improvements -- not dam breaching -- will be the preferred path
for trying to improve salmon and steelhead survival through four lower
Snake River federal hydroelectric projects.
The "federal executives," along with representatives of states and
tribes, met this week to consider the potential of transitioning from an
informal organization to a more formal, regional decision-making forum.
Federal, state and tribal representatives raised issues this week with
the federal "implementation plan" released by the federal action
agencies in mid-November.
The plan describes the specific measures the agencies will implement
between Oct. 1, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2002, to comply with the National
Marine Fisheries Service' 2000 biological opinion.
An October discovery that a section of north-central Washington's Methow
River had run dry has caused funding entities to rethink a March
decision to spend $2.5 million to protect the reach's riparian habitat.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it expects to release in
mid-December an assessment of the biological effects that deepening the
Columbia River shipping channel by three feet from Portland to Astoria
may have on 13 listed species of salmon, steelhead and trout.
A federal decision to revisit Endangered Species Act listing decisions
for 23 of 25 West Coast salmon and steelhead stocks has provoked a
variety of opinions about the future of the region's fish recovery
efforts.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan, in an order dated Wednesday,
granted seven environmental and fishing groups legal "intervenor status"
for the purposes of appealing his own Sept. 10 decision in Alsea Valley
Alliance v Evans that struck Oregon coastal coho from the federal
Endangered Species Act list.
Fishing and conservation groups and two Columbia Basin tribes this week
announced the filing of lawsuits claiming that the Bonneville Power
Administration has violated the Northwest Power Act by failing to manage
the federal hydrosystem "equitably" to produce energy and to restore
salmon.
Flows to protect threatened lower Columbia River chum salmon likely
won't start until at least Nov. 19, after restrictions on flows in
Hanford Reach are lifted. The federal hydroelectric system operating
agencies told fisheries managers at this week's Technical Management
Team meeting that the Vernita Bar Agreement restricts the amount of water they can get to Bonneville Dam through Feb. 18.
The Northwest Power Planning Council marched ahead Thursday with a plan
that allots nearly $35 million in fiscal year 2002 spending on new and
ongoing fish and wildlife projects in the Columbia Plateau Province.
"This is an example of the Council approving on-the-ground projects that
will benefit fish and wildlife, and doing so within the budget
established by Bonneville," Council Chairman Larry Cassidy of Vancouver,
Wash., said.
U.S. District Circuit Judge Michael Hogan on Tuesday turned aside
arguments that federal protection for Oregon coastal coho and their
habitat be continued while the federal government rethinks the status of
the salmon's wild and hatchery produced populations.
If higher river flow is provided for chum salmon spawning downstream
from Bonneville Dam beginning Monday, as Oregon and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service want, the Bonneville Power Administration doubts it
could sustain the flow through January without jeopardizing juvenile
salmon operations next spring and summer.
A $2 billion increase in federal borrowing authority for the Bonneville
Power Administration was dropped this week from the annual Department of
Energy spending bill.
No less than five administrative "de-listing" petitions -- targeting
fish stocks from the Puget Sound to northern California and Oregon's
Klamath Basin -- have landed on federal fish managers' desks in recent
week.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed two bills aimed at
boosting security for federal dams and other water and power facilities
in the West.
One measure would allow the Bureau of Reclamation to contract with
local, state, tribal and other federal law enforcement agencies to
provide trained and certified law enforcement security.
A depressing power reliability outlook released in May by the Northwest
Power Planning Council turned rosy this week when Council staff released
a new study that predicts a loss of load probability through the coming
winter of less than 1 percent, far lower than the prediction for the
same measurement in May.
A number of undefined variables remained this week as the Northwest
Power Planning Council searched for an equitable means of spreading
available fish and wildlife project funding across the basin.
This week, Congress passed a final interior spending bill with $26
million toward removal of two dams in Olympic National Park and at least
$14 million for Columbia Basin fish habitat and salmon enhancement in
the Northwest.
Seven environmental and fishing groups on Tuesday filed a series of
legal measures they hope will lead to an appeal of U.S. District Court
Judge Michael Hogan's Sept. 10 decision that has resulted in the
delisting of the Oregon coastal coho.
Gov. Gary Locke on Monday launched a "sweeping new Columbia River Regional Initiative" he says is aimed at improving Columbia and Snake river water management for the benefit of fish and humans.
The Northwest Power Planning Council is pondering a "freeze" on funding
for new fish and wildlife projects until it can judge the full weight of
growing demands stemming from its newly instituted provincial review
process and from federal hydrosystem biological opinions.
The Northwest Power Planning Council Thursday adopted a fiscal year 2002
fish and wildlife program "provisional start of year" budget that sets a
wavy line at $152.7 million.
A recent U.S. District Court judgment that the federal government erred
in its listing of Oregon coho could open a can of legal worms across the
Columbia River basin and Pacific Coast, according to an assessment
provided by the Northwest Power Planning Council's legal staff.
An administrative petition calling for the delisting of seven Columbia
Basin salmon and steelhead stocks is, perhaps, the first legal broadside
delivered in response to a recent federal court decision declaring
illegal the Oregon coast coho's listing under the Endangered Species
Act.
Two conservation organizations joined the effort to put pressure on
Department of Commerce Secretary Don Evans to order an appeal of a
recent U.S. District Court decision requiring the National Marine
Fisheries Service to reconsider its decision to list Oregon coastal coho
salmon under the Endangered Species Act.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
