U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden said this week he'll need more time to review an avalanche of documents that debate the legality of the federal government's strategy for assuring the Columbia/Snake river basin hydro system doesn't jeopardize protected salmon stocks.
Ten of 11 "Accord" fish and wildlife projects submitted last month for review failed to make the grade, according to a preliminary memorandum released Dec. 12 by the Independent Scientific Review Panel.
The NOAA Fisheries Service next month will launch a review of some 100 federally funded salmon and steelhead hatchery programs in the Columbia River basin to assure they don't hinder efforts to recover protected species.
The Humane Society of the United States on Dec. 5 filed notice that they will appeal a Nov. 26 district court judgment that gave the green light for the removal of California sea lions that prey on salmon below the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.
The state of Oregon and a coalition of fishing and conservation groups have asked a federal court to order increased flow augmentation and spilling of water for fish passage at Columbia/Snake river federal dams as a means of improving the lot of salmon and steelhead that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
A U.S. District Court judge last week ruled that the federal government complied with the law earlier this year in granting permission for the removal, lethal or otherwise, of California sea lions that gather below the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam to prey on imperiled salmon and steelhead.
A petition filed by fishing and conservation groups in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit alleges that Bonneville Power Administration's decision to implement a new Columbia River basin salmon protection plan is illegal.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna say that Washington state will file suit in U.S. District Court to compel the U.S. Department of Energy to complete the cleanup of 53 million gallons of highly toxic and radioactive waste buried in tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
NOAA Fisheries Service on Tuesday issued a biological opinion that concludes three chemicals used in pesticides -- diazonin, malathion, and chlorpyrifos -- are likely to jeopardize 27 West Coast salmon and steelhead populations that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
A new federal salmon plan that agencies say will boost beleaguered wild populations instead "seeks to shrink the magnitude of the problem salmon face" and continues a "pattern of matching an analysis to an outcome, rather than allowing the analysis to inform the outcome…," according to a legal brief filed Tuesday by Earthjustice.
Eleven projects outlined in new "Columbia Basin Fish Accords" have been forwarded to the Independent Scientific Review Panel for evaluation.
Help for Oregon fish screening work remains in limbo, but the Northwest Power and Conservation Council did act Wednesday to move forward more than $1.2 million in within-year funding requests for eight other fish and wildlife projects.
A species of mollusk has been confirmed to exist in the upper Snake River below Minidoka Dam, federal officials announced today (Nov. 21).
Can the Columbia/Snake river basin "have its cake and eat it too," -- i.e., enjoy sustainable harvests of salmon and steelhead while also lifting beleaguered wild, naturally spawning populations toward recovery?
The Environmental Protection Agency's Region 10 early this month offered for review a draft report that the agency says is a first attempt to portray the risks posed by toxic substances found in the Columbia River basin.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last week dismissed a legal attempt to derail $1 billion in fish and wildlife funding agreements made between Columbia River basin states and tribes and federal agencies.
A coalition of Montana forest-products companies and landowners has been formed to propose conservation measures for Canada lynx as an alternative to an expansive designation of critical habitat for the species.
Calling a new Columbia River basin salmon protection plan a worsening of the status quo "reflects a stubborn and dogmatic refusal to look honestly at the effect of past mitigation, current data, and recent fish counts," according documents filed by federal attorneys late last week in U.S. District Court.
A pair of environmental groups, one indigenous and the other not, have filed appeals challenging Washington state approval of a plan to tap as much as an additional 132,500 acre-feet of water from Lake Roosevelt each year to feed farms and municipalities and keep salmon afloat.
A federal appellate judge panel spent part of Monday morning playing devil's advocate, grilling attorneys about whether hatchery salmon and steelhead and their naturally spawned kin should be judged differently, or the same, and whether federal experts should be given deference to make such decisions.
The Nez Perce Tribe's desire to gain a fuller share of upriver salmon and steelhead harvest is being pursued for the third year in a row and, again, the lower Snake and Clearwater gill-net plan is being conducted without Endangered Species Act sanctions.
Utilities and power consumers and fish and wildlife managers on Tuesday gave their view of the strengths and weaknesses of Northwest Power and Conservation Council's draft amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
As promised, numerous regional entities have officially requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reconsider its Sept. 18 decision to allow the siting of a liquid natural gas terminal near Astoria, Oregon, and the mouth of the Columbia River.
An association of irrigators this week released a memorandum that say Oregon's legal effort to discredit a plan for mitigating Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem effects on salmon and steelhead could also derail a mainstem harvest agreement between states, tribes and the federal government.
The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission unanimously gave the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality approval Thursday to pursue rule revisions that will set new water quality standards for toxic pollutants in Oregon.
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