Despite a surge of opposition in recent weeks, legislation to adopt the Yakima Basin Plan has been passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a milestone for a concerted planning effort that has been underway since 2009.
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has resumed its review of legislation that would implement a plan for managing water and conservation efforts in the Yakima Basin, with critics pressing for changes that would tighten environmental reviews and general oversight of the Yakima Basin Plan.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded three environmental education grants totaling $272,992 to non-profit organizations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The three projects were selected from a pool of 48 grant applications submitted to EPA Region 10.
This week U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, joined her Senate colleagues and the Secretaries of Energy and the Interior at a signing ceremony for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA Fisheries have reached an agreement to work over the next three years on plans to locate, protect and restore zones of cold water habitat for fish in the Columbia and lower Willamette rivers.
A lawsuit has been filed challenging the adequacy of environmental reviews for salmon farms in the Puget Sound and the threats they may pose to wild salmon in the region.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is considering a challenge to a 2013 ruling that found tribal treaty rights include assurances that salmon habitat would be protected, and that the state of Washington must remove culverts that prevent the passage of spawning salmon.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee this week announced he’s directing the state Department of Ecology to draft a new clean water rule that will “preserve the state’s decision-making control over how to meet federal requirements,” said the governor’s office in a press release.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced this week that petitions to list the greater sage grouse for designations under the Endangered Species Act are denied.
Conservation groups have followed through on their intent to sue regarding alleged pollutant discharges from a federal fish hatchery near Leavenworth, Wash.
The Northwest Power Act requires the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to report annually to the U.S. Congress the “current state of the Columbia River Basin and the Council’s activities” and to make the draft report available for 90 days of public comment prior to submission to the U.S. Congress.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week proposed a rule setting fish consumption rates that would strengthen Washington State’s human health criteria and water quality standards.
Litigants in a long-running legal battle over a strategy for protecting and enhancing conditions for salmon and steelhead fisheries in the Columbia and Snake river basins have formally responded to questions from U.S. District Judge Michael Simon, who is expected to rule on requests for summary judgement in the near future.
Teck Metals Limited and Teck American Incorporated have reached a legally binding cleanup agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin removing lead and other contaminants from 15 properties in northeast Washington state.
WaterWatch of Oregon this week announced its intention to challenge the Central Oregon Irrigation District, North Unit Irrigation District, Tumalo Irrigation District, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over “harm caused by their water use operations in the Upper Deschutes River.”
An internal report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service questions whether culling double-crested cormorants in the Columbia River estuary would actually result in more returning salmon and steelhead.
With an expected increase in solar radiation and air temperature in the lower Snake River basin, river and power operators at Wednesday’s Technical Management Team meeting began to use what could be the last available water from Dworshak Dam until September to cool water in August in the Lower Granite Dam tailrace.
A formidable lineup has been backing federal legislation that would authorize the first 10-year phase of Washington’s Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, but opponents have been sounding off recently, contending in part that they have not been adequately included in a U.S. Senate hearings process.
A coalition including fishing, public health, property rights, and conservation groups criticized a draft environmental review issued this week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline in the Columbia River estuary.
Canadian storage reservoirs have provided the lion’s share of water releases for the Columbia River Basin, and in a timely fashion, during one of the driest years in decades throughout the region.
Conservationists have announced plans to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to have a pollution discharge permit for the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery in central Washington.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week at its monthly meeting in Spokane approved modifications to its cost savings proposal, approving a final methodology describing how it and the Bonneville Power Administration would achieve the savings.
The Center for Biological Diversity this week submitted a formal notice of intent to sue the Bureau of Reclamation over operation and maintenance of Central Oregon’s Crane Prairie and Wickiup dams, contending they are harming the Oregon spotted frog on the Deschutes River.
Fisheries managers began trapping endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Lower Granite Dam Monday and transporting the fish to Eagle Hatchery in Idaho as river managers struggled to keep the river cool. As of Wednesday this week, just five fish had been captured and transported.
At a change of command ceremony this week, Brigadier General Scott A. Spellmon assumed command of the Northwestern Division office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He succeeds Brigadier General John S. Kem, who has served as commander since July 2013.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
