Currently browsing: Litigation

U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington, last week reintroduced bipartisan legislation aimed at allowing Northwest states and tribes to obtain permits for lethal removal of the most aggressive California sea lions in order to deter predation on salmon as they return to the Columbia River to spawn.

A water rights compact for the Confederated Salish-Kootenai tribes is now in the hands of Montana legislators, and it’s not clear what kind of reception it will get in the weeks to come.

A Montana District Court judge has delivered a major blow to a pending water rights compact for the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes, ruling that one of the compact’s three major parts is fundamentally and constitutionally flawed.

Teck Metals Ltd., notified U.S. federal courts late last week that it would appeal a Dec. 14 ruling that says the Canadian mining and smelting company is liable under U.S. environmental law for contaminating the Columbia River with millions of tons of processing waste.

A judge in the U.S. District Court in Yakima Dec. 14 issued a ruling that says Canadian mining and smelting company Teck Metals Ltd. is liable under U.S. environmental law for contaminating the Columbia River with millions of tons of smelting waste.

Nearly 200 people packed a room in Kalispell Tuesday night, most of them leery or critical of a recently proposed water rights compact for the Flathead Indian Reservation.

A legal argument over whether California sea lions should be sacrificed in order to stop their predation on Columbia River salmon and steelhead passed the penultimate stage, at least for the latest district court go-round, with the filing this month of the last of scheduled legal briefs.

The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a measure allowing the lethal removal of California sea lions preying on salmon and other fish in the Columbia River.

The legal debate over whether salmon-eating California sea lions can be lethally removed from lower Columbia River waters should be moved to an Oregon-based court, according to a “joint stipulation and proposed order” filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed this week that another cow was killed by wolves from the Imnaha pack over the weekend. The yearling heifer was found dead on private land in Wallowa County.

A new federal policy proposed this week is intended to clarify which species or populations of species are eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Predation on salmon was reduced through the removal of 40 California sea lions from the lower Columbia River during 2008-2010, but a renewed and strengthened effort is needed to protect fish stocks that are listed under the Endangered Species Act, according to an Oct. 4 report produced by the states of Oregon and Washington and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

NOAA Fisheries announced this week that a task force will be convened Oct. 24 to mull whether the federal government should authorize the lethal removal of California sea lions that prey on salmon and steelhead in the waters below the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam.

Four Columbia River treaty fishing tribes on Thursday strongly encouraged the states of Oregon and Washington to push forward by immediately to refile an application with NOAA Fisheries for a Marine Mammal Protection Act Section 120 permit that allows them to remove California sea lions that feed each spring on salmon returning to the Columbia River to spawn.

The states of Oregon and Washington last week agreed to suspend their effort to trap and remove California sea lion from the lower Columbia River until at least September to allow newly kindled litigation to unfold in U.S. District Court.

Congress passed legislation Thursday removing Montana and Idaho wolves from the Endangered Species list and returning management to the states, as part of a budget bill to continue federal funding this year.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reached an agreement with the majority of plaintiffs, including Defenders of Wildlife, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and eight other conservation organizations, to settle ongoing litigation over a Federal District Court’s 2010 decision to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains.

Idaho’s move to end its cooperation with the federal government over wolf management may or may not have ramifications for Montana, a state that is not likely to follow the lead of its western neighbor.

The public is being asked to review and comment on formal documents that will guide removal of black slag from a beach on the Upper Columbia River.

The slag, which has the appearance of black sand, is an industrial byproduct discharged into the Columbia River from a metals smelting facility operated by Teck Metals Ltd. (formerly Teck Cominco) in Trail, British Columbia.

Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined Northwest officials this week at Richland, Wash., to announce a proposed legal settlement that will impose a new schedule for tank waste cleanup at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington.

The Washington Department of Ecology and Teck American Inc., of Spokane this week signed a detailed voluntary agreement under which the mining company will remove slag from an area on the upper Columbia River known as Black Sand Beach.

Anne Castle has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.

Castle will oversee water and science policy and have responsibility for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the recent delisting of gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, raising some of the same legal issues that blocked delisting last year.

Wolves are once again on a path toward delisting in Montana and Idaho -- but not Wyoming.

Federal appeals court arguments will proceed apace, not on an expedited schedule, over whether California sea lions can be lethally removed from the base of the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.

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.

A landmark agreement was signed last week that opens the possibility that the first new water rights in decades could be granted to Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association members while assuring that flows for salmon and steelhead aren't diminished.

As promised, a coalition of wildlife conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday challenging the decision to remove wolves from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

As promised, a coalition of wildlife conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday challenging the decision to remove wolves from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

State of Montana and federal officials today announced a $37 million settlement of litigation with Atlantic Richfield Co. and ASARCO LLC to remove the aging Mike Horse Dam and the contaminated tailings behind it, and to clean up and restore the Upper Blackfoot River and Mining Complex.

State of Montana and federal officials today announced a $37 million settlement of litigation with Atlantic Richfield Co. and ASARCO LLC to remove the aging Mike Horse Dam and the contaminated tailings behind it, and to clean up and restore the Upper Blackfoot River and Mining Complex.

Motivated by ongoing litigation, two Washington congressmen have stepped up their effort to streamline Marine Mammal Protection Act processes for allowing the removal of sea lions that prey on federally protected salmon runs.

Motivated by ongoing litigation, two Washington congressmen have stepped up their effort to streamline Marine Mammal Protection Act processes for allowing the removal of sea lions that prey on federally protected salmon runs.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a request that it consider whether an appellate court erred in ruling that a Canadian company can be penalized for dumping mining slag into the Columbia River that ultimately skittered downriver across the border.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a request that it consider whether an appellate court erred in ruling that a Canadian company can be penalized for dumping mining slag into the Columbia River that ultimately skittered downriver across the border.