The Deschutes River Alliance made good on its 60-day notice to sue Portland General Electric over what the DRA says is more than 1,000 Clean Water Act violations at the utility’s Pelton-Round Butte hydroelectric complex on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon.
Water in Lower Granite Dam’s tailwater continues to run several degrees cooler than the 68 degrees Fahrenheit upper temperature limit set by NOAA Fisheries’ 2014 biological opinion for Columbia/Snake salmon and steelhead, and the result has been improved passage for sockeye salmon.
Five U.S. Senators and 17 U.S. House members from the Pacific Northwest have sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the U.S. Department of State to hasten its progress towards negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty.
Trapping and hauling listed sockeye will not be necessary this year due to cooler air and water temperatures in the lower Snake River, according to a briefing of Snake River conditions and operations at this week’s Northwest Power and Conservation Council meeting.
Saying that double-crested cormorants are not an endangered or threatened species, but that many of the salmon and steelhead they feast on in the lower Columbia River estuary are, U.S. District Court of Oregon Judge Michael H. Simon’s tentative ruling would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ to continue culling cormorants in the estuary.
The Wild Fish Conservancy is seeking an injunction and restraining order to block the continued use of Mitchell Act funding for salmonid hatchery operations in the lower Columbia River system.
The Washington Department of Ecology Monday adopted a water quality rule – the fish consumption rule -- that updates standards which set pollution limits for businesses and municipalities that discharge wastewater.
A Montana District Court judge recently ruled that a portion of the long-contested water rights compact for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes violates the state constitution, but it is not enough to derail the compact that was narrowly approved by the Montana Legislature in 2015.
The federal judge presiding over the rewriting of the recovery plan for thirteen species of Columbia River salmon and steelhead says a thorough National Environmental Policy Act review is more important than the shortened remand schedule proposed by the litigation’s plaintiffs.
With the current 10-year federal court agreement – U.S. v. Oregon-- that guides Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead harvest set to expire next year, federal agencies have announced their intention to prepare a joint environment impact statement to help guide a new harvest agreement post-2017.
Results of survival tests for young salmon and steelhead that migrate to the ocean through six Federal Columbia River Power System dams all generally exceeded the survival requirements of NOAA Fisheries’ 2008 FCRPS biological opinion for Columbia River salmon and steelhead, according to a recent study.
A lawsuit was filed Monday by an environmental group maintains that federal agencies have failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act regarding the impacts of 26 federal hydropower projects on bull trout critical habitat in the Columbia River basin.
NOAA Fisheries last week re-authorized the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho to continue lethal removal of California sea lions that prey on salmon and steelhead at Bonneville Dam.
Tribal fishing families living in distressed conditions along the Columbia River received “major support” Thursday when Oregon and Washington members of the U.S. House and Senate introduced legislation that would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to assess and improve the living conditions at federally-owned tribal treaty fishing sites, said the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in a press release.
As a larger than predicted run of sockeye salmon head up the Columbia and Snake rivers – some 400,000 fish -- the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took steps this week to cool water in the lower Snake River.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling that affirms a lower court decision that directed the state of Washington to repair hundreds of road culverts to improve salmonid fish passage.
A week after federal agencies said they could complete the NEPA process in five years, not the two years given by U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon to complete both a new recovery plan for protected Columbia/Snake River salmon and steelhead and associated National Environmental Policy Act documents, plaintiffs in the case said the federal plan takes too long.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon gave federal agencies two years – to March 1, 2018 – to return to court with a new recovery plan for protected Columbia/Snake River salmon and steelhead, along with associated National Environmental Policy Act documents.
After he had remanded the 2014 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion May 4, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon turned on May 12 to another case on his docket – the Audubon of Portland lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to cull double crested cormorants in the lower Columbia River estuary.
Some 16 years in the making, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its $746 million plan to clean up the Portland Harbor in the lower Willamette River, giving the public until August 8 to comment.
Washington State U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, have introduced a new bill, the Methow Headwaters Protection Act of 2016, to protect 340,000 acres of National Forest in the Methow Valley from potential development of a large-scale mine.
Under the terms of a federal court order signed Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to develop federal rules for three toxic chemicals in Oregon’s waters.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester introduced legislation last week aimed at winning congressional approval for a controversial Salish-Kootenai water compact.
In rejecting much of NOAA Fisheries’ 2014 biological opinion for salmon and steelhead impacted by the Federal Columbia River Power System, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon gave the agency two years – to March 1, 2018 – to return with a new recovery plan and National Environmental Policy Act documents.
Citing more than 1,200 proposed water quality violations at the Pelton-Round Butte Hydroelectric Complex on the Deschutes River, the Deschutes River Alliance notified Portland General Electric last Friday of its intent to sue in 60 days.
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