An annual report of smolt-to-adult salmon and steelhead survival through Snake and Columbia river dams was completed and released to the public at the end of December by the Fish Passage Center.
Federal defendants filed opening briefs in late October in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite a reversal of an April 3 U.S. District Court of Oregon injunction that called for earlier spill in 2018 to aid juvenile fish passage and monitoring at federal dams.
An independent panel of scientists has completed its eighth annual review of the Fish Passage Center’s draft 2017 report on Columbia River basin salmon survival, again finding that the methodology used by the FPC when calculating such items as smolt-to-adult survival and juvenile migration time and survival is already developed and useful.
Under court order, the operators of eight federal dams on the lower Snake and lower Columbia rivers will begin to spill water for fish earlier next year, beginning April 3, to possibly improve survival rates for juvenile salmon and steelhead through the hydroelectric system.
The federal court judge who rejected last May the Columbia River hydropower system’s 2014 biological opinion for salmon and steelhead is leaning towards ordering more spring/summer spill at mainstem dams aimed at aiding juvenile fish passage-- but not until 2018.
Federal dam operating agencies released last week an annual evaluation of progress toward meeting the conservation requirements of the federal power system’s 2008 biological opinion and the 2014 supplemental BiOp for Columbia/Snake river salmon and steelhead.
Federal agencies operating Columbia/Snake river dams and reservoirs on Thursday in Astoria completed the last of their sixteen regional “scoping” meetings which solicited public views regarding a court-ordered environmental impact statement for salmon and steelhead.
Expecting a more positive reception than it received two years ago, the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association in Kennewick, Washington, petitioned the Trump transition team to convene the Endangered Species Act Committee, also known as the “God Squad,” for a “reconsultation” of the Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion for salmon and steelhead.
The three agencies that operate 14 federal dams in the Columbia River Basin are seeking comments on the scope of what they should consider when preparing an environmental impact statement of the Federal Columbia River Power System.
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.
NOAA Fisheries has decided that it will largely stay the course with its plan to assure Columbia/Snake River salmon and steelhead stocks are not jeopardized by the existence and operation of the federal Columbia River Power system.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week announced it is asking for public comments on a project it is proposing, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to restore tidal connection and fish access to 68 acres of long-blocked tidal wetlands on the mainstem of the lower Columbia River.
Fish “jumping like popcorn” in recent days have signaled that anadromous steelhead trout are taking advantage of the opportunity to access White Salmon River habitat long blocked off by the presence of Condit Dam.
More than 1,000 American businesses signed on to a letter sent Tuesday asking President Obama for a change in the government’s policy for restoring wild Columbia and Snake river salmon and steelhead.
(Revised From Aug. 3 Version)
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden on Tuesday found wanting a federal plan to mitigate for hydro system impacts to Columbia-Snake river salmon and steelhead, but he gave NOAA Fisheries 2½ years to correct “a reliance on mitigation measures that are unidentified and not reasonably certain to occur.”
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden on Tuesday found wanting a federal plan to mitigate for hydro system impacts to Columbia-Snake river salmon and steelhead, but he gave the agency in charge 2 ½ years to determine whether its approach is legally and/or biologically valid.
“The federal salmon plan is based in sound science, is action oriented, has a vast partnership as an implementation team and should be given a chance to succeed,” according to a legal brief filed jointly Feb. 11 by the Warm Springs, Umatilla and Yakama tribes.
An extension this week was granted in the long-running legal debate over the adequacy of the government’s plan for improving conditions for salmon and steelhead that negotiate the Federal Columbia River Power System.
A May 2010 Columbia-Snake river “biological opinion” is illegal in its own right, and does nothing to cure the ills of a 2008 federal strategy for assuring the hydro system avoids jeopardizing the survival of salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act.
That’s the contention of the Nez Perce and Spokane tribes, the state of Oregon and a coalition of fishing and conservation groups.
The Bonneville Power Administration's Greg Delwiche next week will complete a full circle of sorts when he takes over as the federal power marketing agency's senior vice president for Power Services.
Federal attorneys this week told U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden that a Sept. 15 addendum to the government's 2008 Columbia River basin hydro system salmon protection strategy could simply be added to the court record the judge will consider in deciding whether the plan is legal under the Endangered Species Act.
A federal judge this week suggested that a legal strategy might soon be in place to protect salmon and steelhead impacted by the Federal Columbia River Power System.
"I really believe that with a little more work we'll have a BiOp," U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden told two crowded courtrooms Monday.
Upon further review, the plan of action for protecting imperiled Columbia-Snake river salmon and steelhead that migrate through the federal hydro system is the most robust ever developed and built on the best available science, according to legal briefs filed Oct. 23 by the government and supportive "sovereigns."
A new "Adaptive Management Implementation Plan" -- produced by federal agencies with guidance from high-level Obama Administration officials -- could make matters worse, not better, for imperiled Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead, according to briefs filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
Federal officials this week told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council that a good plan for protecting Columbia River basin salmon just got better.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden has called for a round of legal arguments regarding the federal government's recently released "insurance policy for fish" – a new chapter added to NOAA Fisheries Service's Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion on the status of protected salmon and steelhead stocks.
(Revised from Sept. 15 version)
NOAA Fisheries Tuesday filed in federal court a "strengthened plan" for protecting salmon and steelhead that swim up and down the federal government's Columbia-Snake river hydropower system.
NOAA Fisheries today filed in federal court a "strengthened plan" for protecting salmon and steelhead that swim up and down the federal government's Columbia-Snake river hydropower system.
President Obama's mailbox is stuffed with advice from former governors, current senators and others as the administration prepares to issue a critique of the government's own plan for protecting wild Columbia-Snake river salmon and steelhead stocks affected by the basin's federal hydro system.
No, Idaho's senior U.S. senator, Mike Crapo, is not a born-again dam breaching advocate.
Top officials traveled west this week to continue the Obama Administration's examination of a legally beleaguered strategy for assuring that federal dams in the Columbia River basin don't jeopardize the survival of protected salmon and steelhead.
A federal judge says more funding commitments, higher guaranteed river flows, additional scientific analysis and another look at the breaching of four dams on the lower Snake River may be needed to shore up, and make legal, the federal government's Columbia River basin salmon protection plan.
Parties to long-running litigation over the federal government's Columbia River hydro system biological opinion now have an extra 30 to 60 days to "explore whether further discussions regarding the BiOp might be productive."
(Revised version of "BiOp Court Hearing: Redden Says 'I Think It Is Very Close' To Being Legal" https://www.www.www.columbiabasinbulletin.org/324249.aspx , posted Monday, March 9.)
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden entered his courtroom Friday (March 6) with three major areas of concern about the federal plan intended to boost survival for protected salmon that traverse the Columbia-Snake river hydropower system.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden, in a letter sent this week, set the stage for March 6 oral arguments over the legal validity of the federal government's Columbia River hydro system's salmon protection plan.
Listed below are the 15 subjects U.S. District Court Judge James Redden is directing participants to address in the March 6 oral arguments in the litigation over NOAA Fisheries Service's 2008 salmon and steelhead biological opinion for the Federal Columbia River Power System.
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.
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.
The new federal plan to protect salmon and steelhead migrating through the Columbia/Snake river hydro system employs a "newly lowered bar" that fails to properly assess, in scientific or legal terms, the listed species' chances of recovery, according to motions for summary judgment filed in U.S. District Court Sept. 19 by a coalition of fishing and conservation groups and the state of Oregon.
The state of Oregon on Tuesday asked the U.S. District Court to send federal agencies back to the drawing board to develop a Columbia/Snake hydro system strategy that makes imperiled salmon stocks, not the power system, the top priority.
So the radical environmental groups are suing once again to prevent the Federal dam operators from using the best available science to protect the Columbia River salmon. Between them and Judge Redden, they are the second most deadly force to the salmon in the region. Only the predacious birds, fish, seals, and sea lions kill more juvenile salmon each year.
(Revised From June 17 Version)
A new plan for protecting salmon and steelhead affected by the Columbia/Snake hydro system -- like the document it replaced -- faces a legal challenge from fishing and conservation groups who contend federal agencies changed their biological analysis methods in order to produce a "no jeopardy" conclusion, but changed little else.
Terms like "quite good," "the possibilities are promising" and "credible job of reflecting dynamic reality" sprinkle the latest scientific review of the statistical modeling tool used to choose federal Columbia/Snake river hydro operations that might best benefit migrating salmon and steelhead.
A three-pronged federal strategy announced this week to lift beleaguered salmon and steelhead stocks onto a recovery trajectory has already begun to draw some heat.
Targeted particularly is the leg that addresses hydro system impacts on the Columbia/Snake river basin fish.
A three-pronged federal strategy announced this week to lift beleaguered salmon and steelhead stocks onto a recovery trajectory has already begun to draw some heat.
Targeted particularly is the leg that addresses hydro system impacts on the Columbia/Snake river basin fish.
The Bonneville Power Administration this week announced draft agreements with four Columbia River basin tribes, and the states of Idaho and Montana, that would guarantee $980.5 million in funding for fish and wildlife projects over the next 10 years in exchange for support of the federal hydro system salmon recovery strategy.
A total of nearly $1 billion in fish and wildlife project funding promises either moves toward a more unified and successful Columbia River basin salmon restoration effort, or, depending on the perspective, attempts to dodge biological and legal truths.
The Bonneville Power Administration this week announced draft agreements with four Columbia River basin tribes, and the states of Idaho and Montana, that would guarantee $980.5 million in funding for fish and wildlife projects over the next 10 years in exchange for support of the federal hydro system salmon recovery strategy.
A total of nearly $1 billion in fish and wildlife project funding promises either moves toward a more unified and successful Columbia River basin salmon restoration effort, or, depending on the perspective, attempts to dodge biological and legal truths.
A familiar figure on the Columbia River basin salmon recovery scene has taken a much broader role with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A familiar figure on the Columbia River basin salmon recovery scene has taken a much broader role with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Witt Anderson was recently chosen to lead a $3 billion annual program of water resource projects, military construction, and environmental restoration activities throughout the Columbia and Missouri river basins.
Responding appropriately to a wealth of comment on its draft Federal Columbia River Power system biological opinion will require more time than anticipated, according to the NOAA Fisheries Service.
Responding appropriately to a wealth of comment on its draft Federal Columbia River Power system biological opinion will require more time than anticipated, according to the NOAA Fisheries Service.
NOAA Fisheries Oct. 30 draft biological opinions on Columbia/Snake River hydro projects and Upper Snake River irrigation projects fill more than 2,100 pages, including appendices and the BiOps' scientific foundation, the "Supplemental Comprehensive Analysis."
NOAA Fisheries Oct. 30 draft biological opinions on Columbia/Snake River hydro projects and Upper Snake River irrigation projects fill more than 2,100 pages, including appendices and the BiOps' scientific foundation, the "Supplemental Comprehensive Analysis."
There will be much to talk about in court next week, and much to fix before a draft NOAA Fisheries' biological opinion on the federal Columbia/Snake hydro system goes final, according to comments filed in U.S. District Court Friday (Nov. 30) by the state of Oregon, Columbia Basin tribes and the plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit.
There will be much to talk about in court next week, and much to fix before a draft NOAA Fisheries' biological opinion on the federal Columbia/Snake hydro system goes final, according to comments filed in U.S. District Court Friday (Nov. 30) by the state of Oregon, Columbia Basin tribes and the plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week approved the final draft of its Power Division's "Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the Northwest Power System" paper, which charts steadily growing outputs of the greenhouse gas and details what might be done to curb that growth.
Initial impressions this week of a "draft" federal Columbia River Basin salmon protection strategy ranged from sharp criticisms of the tome, to praise, to "wait and see" attitudes.
Tribes say they will work to improve the draft salmon recovery plan issued today, while industry and river-user interests said the new plan is science-based and a significant improvement over past plans.
Public comments suggested tinkering, expanded analysis and scope and other fine-tuning, but, overall, most judged the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's draft "Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the Northwest Power System" paper as a needed "dose of reality" for the region.
A legal reaffirmation this week of the federal government's need to fortify its Columbia/lower Snake river hydrosystem salmon protection strategy has drawn responses ranging from anger, to glee, to resolve that the job can be accomplished.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Independent Economic Analysis Board Wednesday presented to the Council its review of Revenue Stream, a report prepared by the staff of several fishing associations and environmental groups.
Federal attorneys said last week the two new biological opinions on protected Columbia/Snake salmon and steelhead likely would be delivered to U.S. District Court at the same time.
While calling a recent report on the cost and benefits of removing the four Lower Snake dams “unreliable,” the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s independent economic advisors say that “perhaps” the region should again study the economic and ecological impacts of removing the dams.
Residents of the Lewiston and Clarkston area asked U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to avoid raising levees as it looks for long term solutions to sediment problems in Lower Granite Reservoir.
An Idaho water users group this week cited results from a 2006 study as proof that migrating juvenile salmon do not suffer ill effects from passing down through four lower Snake River federal hydroprojects, and nor does barging the young fish through the hydrosystem hinder their chances of surviving to adulthood.
A process to rebuild the government's salmon protection strategy for the Columbia River hydrosystem is on track, aiming for recovery of imperiled salmon and steelhead stocks, federal attorneys told U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden July 21.
A Snake River sockeye salmon captive broodstock hatchery program that continues the genetic line of "Lonesome Larry" earned a groundswell of support this week after receiving a critical scientific review.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden on Thursday said he was inclined to again order federal dam operators to spill water through July and August to facilitate juvenile salmon passage.
The future of Columbia/Snake river salmon restoration efforts drew comments ranging from gentle encouragement to threats Wednesday during closing exchanges at a Boise conference.
Idaho's governor this week said regional interests needed to put the spurs to the federal government to produce a realistic salmon recovery plan and rein in commercial fishing practices that he says are blunting recovery efforts.
Fishing and conservation groups and four treaty tribes say that they would like to see work completed within a year on what is expected to be a court-ordered remand of the federal government's Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem salmon protection plan, according to proposals filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
A University of Idaho professor and policy analyst found fault with an economic study that says restored salmon runs could net the Idaho economy $544 million per year.
An attempt to stop implementation of a court-ordered spill plan at five Columbia/Snake River federal hydro projects was rejected this week by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but an appeal of the operations was put on the fast track.
Members of Congress heard two contrasting views on salmon recovery, dam breaching and the Endangered Species Act Monday ( June 6) but also said they saw and heard room for compromise.
Tribal interests and hydropower customer representatives were alternately elated and deflated by the news that basic elements of the federal government's Columbia/Snake salmon protection plan had been deemed by a judge as "arbitrary and capricious" and illegal under the Endangered Species Act.
Fishing and conservation groups on Dec. 30 filed a “supplemental complaint” in federal court asking that NOAA Fisheries be ordered to withdraw its new biological opinion for the Columbia River federal hydropower system.
Eleven fishing and conservation groups said this week that the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation will be targeted with a lawsuit if the agencies implement their newly developed "Updated Proposed Action" for the operation of 14 Columbia Basin federally hydro projects.
Columbia River basin residents with a stake in the region's salmon restoration effort remained at opposite poles regarding the value of a new federal plan to assure that hydrosystem operations do not push fish stocks to extinction.
Federal officials on Tuesday announced a package of Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem operations and off-site fish mitigation actions that they feel will both ward off the extinction of protected salmon and steelhead and parry potential legal thrusts like those that forced a December 2000 strategy to be rewritten.
Ranging from lengthy, detailed critiques to succinct post cards, tens of thousands of comments have poured in regarding agencies' plans to operate the federal Columbia River hydrosystem while protecting salmon and steelhead stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The leaders of 400 salmon- and outdoor recreation-based businesses from 35 states this week signed a letter to Congress that chastises the federal government for its approach to protecting and enhancing Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead populations and asks help in refocusing the strategy.
The first legal shots were fired over the bow of the federal government's draft Columbia River basin salmon protection plan this week by litigants who forced a reworking of the existing strategy, and by the judge who last year called the prevailing strategy illegal under the Endangered Species Act.
As conservationists and tribes criticized the draft biological opinion released by NOAA Fisheries this week, states were cautious while awaiting staff reviews and utilities were optimistic that the plan will consider the cost of operations to the Northwest federal hydroelectric system.
Federal agencies released draft documents Thursday that officials say will shore up Columbia River basin salmon protection efforts biologically and legally, and do it in a manner that potentially reduces the cost to the federal hydropower system.
NOAA Fisheries' hints of things to come in its revised Federal Columbia River Power System "biological opinion" left some process watchers heartened by what they believe will be a more economical, sensible approach to salmon recovery while others fear a slackening of salmon protections.
NOAA Fisheries and federal "action" agencies said Tuesday that fish protection measures -- past and future -- at Columbia/Snake River dams and “offsite” have removed the stigma that salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act are jeopardized by hydrosystem operations.
Federal agencies met with tribes, states and others Monday afternoon (June 14) to get feedback about an amended summer spill proposal that would cut spill for fish passage at Columbia and Snake River dams in July and August by about 39 percent.
Federal officials met with state and tribal officials, congressional staff and other Columbia River hydrosystem "stakeholders" Tuesday to explain a proposed test of fish management flexibility that involves shutting off one of the downstream fish passage routes in August, and providing more limited access in July.
Weighing in on a proposal to reduce or eliminate spilling water during summer months, environmental groups and fish and wildlife agencies -- with the notable exception of the State of Montana – said that the analyses of a half-dozen spill options is insufficient and doesn't support the proposed changes.
Fisheries managers were skeptical this week of an analysis provided by federal agencies that look at seven scenarios for summer spill.
The analysis concludes that eliminating spill at Columbia River dams in July and August would reduce adult chinook salmon returns by 19,000 fish, but gain the Bonneville Power Administration as much as $77 million in revenue it now forgoes when it spills water over dams.
The Nez Perce Tribe last week initiated a lawsuit against three federal agencies in an attempt stall a plan to harvest 42 million board feet of timber in north-central Idaho Lochsa River drainage.
More than 100 members of Congress are urging the Bush administration to study the option of Snake River dam removal before adopting a new Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
Federal agencies' lack of progress in sorting out conflicting mandates,
and a meddlesome Clinton Administration, have brought into question
the
agencies' ability to make sound salmon recovery decisions, according
to
Northwest members of the U.S. House of Representatives Resources
committee.
A committee oversight hearing held Thursday in Pasco, Wash., to hear
testimony on "practical and incremental steps that can be taken over
the
near-term to recover endangered salmon" turned at ...
The Northwest can neither morally or legally allow salmon to go extinct.
This is one of the most difficult challenges facing the region and
the
region will be remembered for how well it does.
This is one of the conclusions Lori Bodi, senior policy advisor for
fish
and wildlife at the Bonneville Power Administration, offered to a
gathering of lawyers, students and salmon policy people at this week's
Northwest Water Law & Policy Project fifth annual conference in
Portland.
The ...
Two Northwest Republican senators
this week said they suspect the delay
of federal agencies' recommendation
for modifying or removing lower
Snake River dams to improve salmon
recovery is aimed at helping Vice
President Al Gore's presidential
campaign.
Army Corps of Engineers Brig.
Gen. Carl Strock said the agency recently
granted a 30-day extension of
the public comment period on its final
environmental impact, which had
been scheduled for completion in
October. The extension ...
F&G URGES BREACHING RECOMMENDATION
Alaskan fisheries officials,
and the state's governor, say that
breaching four lower Snake River
dams must be "part of the solution" if
the federal government is to
properly meet its Endangered Species Act
obligations to recover listed
fish.
In comments on the Corps of Engineers
draft Lower Snake River Juvenile
Salmon migration feasibility
study and environmental impact statement,
the Alaska Department of Fish
and Game commissioner's ...
If wind turbines, other renewable
energy resources and conservation were
used to replace the lost power
from four hydroelectric dams on the lower
Snake River, the cost to consumers
would be about the same, but spew far
less carbon than building more
fossil fuel power plants, according to a
recent report released by conservation
organizations.
A report by the NW Energy Coalition
and the Natural Resources Defense
Council took issue with a December
1999 report by the U.S. Army ...
The National Marine Fisheries
Service and the Columbia River operating
agencies agreed Thursday on a
spill plan for federal Columbia River and
lower Snake River dams. The agreement
was drawn up between NMFS, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
the Bonneville Power Administration and
the Bureau of Reclamation and
will go into effect immediately.
The agreement determines the
amount and timing of spill for the next
couple of years and will be included
in NMFS' 2000 biological ...
As the federal agency charged
with protecting salmon and steelhead
species listed under the Endangered
Species Act, the National Marine
Fisheries Service is involved
in a number of processes aimed at both
ensuring survival and promoting
recovery of the species.
Many of those efforts are directed
at the Columbia Basin, where the
number of listed species has
swelled to 12. Newly appointed NMFS
Columbia Basin coordinator Ric
Ilgenfritz has as his task coordinating
those efforts, ...
Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt this week said a regional Fish and
Wildlife Service official's comments in support of breaching four lower
Snake River dams does not reflect his views.
During a press conference in December in Portland by members of the
Federal Caucus to unveil their All-H Paper on salmon recovery options,
Fish and Wildlife Service Northwest regional director Ann Badgley said
the "bottom-line, biological conclusion is really a no-brainer. For
native fish and wildlife, a
Federal scientists conclude that drastic action must be taken soon to
head off extinction for Columbia Basin salmon runs in the worst shape,
and decision-makers must take that plunge without the certainty that
those actions will work.
During a March 29 workshop co-sponsored by National Marine Fisheries
Service, scientists stressed that the peril faced by certain salmon
and
steelhead populations demand immediate action -- action that cannot
be
delayed until numerous biological ...
the
policies.
The requested new $1 million budget line items should be used for
completion of Hatchery Genetic Management Plans and monitoring and
activities consistent with the APR recommendations, according to the
Council testimony.
The Council also asks that the Mitchell Act hatchery program funding
be
increased from the Administration's 2001 request of $15.2 million to
$16.307 million. The administration request targets $11.4 million for
hatchery operations, $3.365 million for ...
the number seems low. But he said that the spawning population is also
very low, making every fish important. Theres no way for Alaska
trollers to avoid Snake River kings specifically, so about half of
the
Alaska catch would be cut under the most stringent harvest-related
option, Rutter said.
Rutter promised that his agency wouldnt recommend any further harvest
restrictions in Alaska unless they were comprehensive throughout the
region and included revisions in the Pacific Salmon ...
to roads/[email protected].
In a separate but related effort, the Forest Service is carrying out
the
President's request to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS)
and to determine how the public wants the agency to manage roadless
areas on national forests. The Draft EIS will be released this spring
for additional public comment. For more information on the proposed
road
management policy, go towww.fs.fed.us/news/roads.
-- Smith Says Drop 4(d) Rule
Oregon Sen. ...
Breaching Four Lower Snake River dams is not the only way, but it's
the
best way to start rebuilding threatened and endangered Columbia Basin
salmon and steelhead stocks, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber said last Friday
afternoon (Feb. 18).
In the speech to Oregon's chapter of the American Fisheries Society,
Kitzhaber stressed the need for immediate, aggressive action to stem
the
decline in the region's fish populations.
"Removing the four Lower Snake River dams is, at least for the ...
U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., criticized two presidential candidates
and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber for supporting or refusing to rule out
the dam breaching option for Columbia-Snake salmon recovery.
Speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, Gorton took issue with
Kitzhaber's surprise endorsement last week of a recovery plan that
includes removal of four federal dams on the lower Snake River in
eastern Washington. Kitzhaber, a Democrat, is the first major elected
official in the ...
Umatilla Mayor George Hash led the cheers Wednesday when the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers shared its draft recommendation for no further study
and, consequently, no drawdown for the John Day Dam.
The meeting in Umatilla drew a crowd of about 70 people, the vast majority
of whom supported the Corps recommendation. Comments and questions, which
followed presentations by Corps Col. Randy Butler and the study project
manager, Stuart Stanger, were not recorded. Written comments will be ...
Those who support removing the four lower Snake River Dams to recover
threatened and endangered fish made a surprisingly strong showing at public
meetings in Clarkston, Wash., on salmon and steelhead recovery Thursday.
Buoyed by support from Nez Perce tribal members, fishing and rafting
guides from Riggins and residents of the more environmentally minded university
towns of Moscow and Pullman breaching supports outnumbered those opposed
to removing the dams.
Breaching supporters told ...
Under the Clinton administration's proposed budget for FY2001, spending
on Columbia River fish mitigation would increase by $33 million to $91
million.
The president's budget request for the Army Corps of Engineers, which
was submitted to Congress on Monday, also contains $923,000 to complete
preconstruction and design for the lower Columbia River channel deepening
project and $8.2 million for the Willamette River temperature control project,
which is intended to improve conditions ...
When it issues a biological opinion of the federal hydro system, the
National Marine Fisheries Service will attach a work in progress that also
addresses federal Clean Water Act issues in the Columbia River mainstem.
NMFS will release its 2000 BiOp of the Federal Columbia River Power
System in early April for review by other federal agencies. Among other
items, the BiOp will address how operations of the federal hydro system
should be conducted to enhance recovery of 12 endangered ...
The Northwest Power Planning Council this week unveiled preliminary
analysis of seven river management schemes that shows all the options producing
positive change for chinook salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin.
The recently developed Multi-Species Framework analysis also invites
the region to pick the price they are willing to pay to revive fish and
wildlife populations in the Columbia-Snake river basin.
All seven river management schemes considered in the analysis ...
A first attempt to describe what the future Northwest Power Planning
Council fish and wildlife program might contain did what the "strawman"
is intended to do -- stimulate discussion about how to produce the best
results from the expenditure of hydroelectric dollars.
The sample "strawman" produced by Council staff received a verbal editing
Tuesday by council members who criticized the document as being indecisive
and occasionally pulling punches, particularly on the issue of dam ...
Following a meeting between Columbia River Indian tribes and federal
agencies in Washington, D.C., last week, the White House Council on Environmental
Quality has pledged the government will consult them on salmon issues,
including the All-H recovery approach.
The assurance was made by CEQ Chairman George Frampton in a Jan. 28
letter to Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Executive Director
Don Sampson.
While federal agencies at the regional level will be focusing on ...
The Corps of Engineers has judged that the benefits to fish are too
few, and the economic costs too great, to pursue further studies aimed
at determining the viability of either breaching John Day Dam or drawing
down its reservoir to enhance the survival of listed Snake River salmon
and steelhead species.
The estimated up-front cost of implementing the four drawdown scenarios
studied range from $2 billion to $4.9 billion. Total annual costs, which
include annualized implementation ...
Politicians and business interests say the Corps of Engineers John
Day Dam recommendation makes perfect sense.
But conservation groups and fishing interests say the Corps ignored
biological logic with its findings that a John Day drawdown would incur
great costs and bring little benefit to threatened and endangered salmon
and steelhead species.
The Corps on Thursday released a summary report of its John Day Dam
Drawdown Phase I study draft report, "Salmon Recovery Through the ...
The four Columbia River treaty tribes took their complaints about the
federal government's failure to consult with them on salmon issues to Washington,
D.C., this week.
Yakima, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribal leaders met with
representatives of numerous federal agencies, including the regional director
of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the CEO of the Bonneville
Power Administration. White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairman
George Frampton, who heard ...
Key flaws must addressed if the ongoing National Marine Fisheries Service
scientific analysis is to provide the underpinnings for regional fish and
wildlife recovery action, according to a report sent to the agency's top
regional official this week.
"Seven Questions About the Cumulative Risk Initiative" criticizes the
modeling effort's methods and data as steering the region toward overly
optimistic conclusions. The report was produced by Gretchen R. Oosterhout,
Ph.D of Eagle Point, Ore.,
( Editors note: Larry Swisher, independent political columnist for
Northwest newspapers, recently interviewed BPA Administrator Judi Johansen
in Washington D.C. The following is an account of their discussion.)
Bonneville Power Administration CEO Judi Johansen is defending the
Federal Caucus' decision in December not to propose a Columbia Basin salmon
plan and instead seek regional discussion of its All-H Paper.
"The reaction we've gotten from the region is, 'Gosh, feds. You ...
The Columbia Basin Forum Committee this week met for the first time
in three months, setting for itself an ambitious agenda to begin its policy
level exploration of the regions four Hs -- hydro, harvest, habitat and
hatcheries
This was its ninth meeting since March 1999, but the first since October,
when it nearly decided to disband. Stan Grace, Montanas representative
to the Forum and one of Montanas Northwest Power Planning Council members,
declined to attend the meeting, ...
Washington's Larry Cassidy is perhaps uniquely positioned to influence
the course of salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin.
Little more than a year after his appointment by Gov. Gary Locke to
the four-state Northwest Power Planning Council, Cassidy was elected this
month to chair that body. The Council recommends annually how $127 million
is spent on regional fish and wildlife projects.
Last year the Vancouver businessman was also appointed, again by Locke,
to the state's five-member ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service counters some criticisms, agrees
with others and essentially says, "we'll get back to you" regarding other
perceived shortfalls in its Anadromous Fish Appendix and a late-produced
addendum to that document.
Among the incomplete tasks are rationalizations for differing conclusions
reached by the two analytical methods being used to judge the effects of
alternative Lower Snake River dam operations' on fish.
The federal agency in a Nov. 16 document ...
Federal agencies released a pair of documents today that they say represent
a first step toward resolving scientific uncertainties and contradictions,
and providing the economic analysis necessary to build a Columbia Basin
fish and wildlife recovery plan.
The documents include a study of options for improving conditions for
salmon and steelhead in the Lower Snake River and a Basinwide recovery
analysis that reveals serious extinction risks for Upper Columbia and Snake
River ...
Breaching the four lower Snake River dams would increase the cost of
power, the cost to transport goods downriver from eastern Washington and
western Idaho and impact irrigators. The costs would outweigh the
benefits, according to information released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
this morning.
However, other alternatives to breaching that call for maximum transportation
of juvenile fish or adding major system improvements come with more benefits
than costs. System ...
The federal caucus members have not yet named a preferred alternative
in any of its fish and wildlife recovery planning processes.
Thats not the case for an audience that gathered Wednesday in Spokane
for an update on the caucus' "All-H's" working paper and other federal
works in progress. Most of those who spoke out said "save the dams."
Drafts of the federal caucus' All Hs (formerly 4-H) paper and the Corps
of Engineers Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Passage feasibility study
and ...
In 1999, members of Congress got a taste of the raging Northwest controversy
over a proposal to remove four federal dams on the Snake River to rescue
endangered salmon.
But regional legislation that would have put Congress on record in
favor of retaining the dams did not come up for a vote or debate in the
full House or Senate, keeping the issue out of the limelight.
A coalition of environmental, fishing, tribal and taxpayer groups launched
a national campaign in favor of ...
Key dates and data rest in the new millennium for a number of planning
processes intended to propel the regions Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife
program down a new path.
The bulk of the Northwest Power Planning Council's 1999 effort was focused
in three separate but related areas -- providing more scientific and financial
accountability in its fish and wildlife project selection process; building
a scientific framework on which to base an amended program; and then reshaping
the ...
Though deadlines kept getting pushed further into the future, federal
agencies worked intently through much of 1999 to devise a long-term Columbia
Basin fish and wildlife recovery strategy, and a plan to pay for it.
While a strictly defined federal "1999 decision" is not imminent as
the year comes to a close, key elements were coming into public focus.
That decision process has been driven in large part by a 1995 biological
opinion which said Columbia-Snake river federal hydrosystem ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service has reached a fork in the road
as it prepares a biological assessment of alternatives for Lower Snake
River hydrosystem configuration.
And it appears at first blush that NMFS should follow the road its own
scientists are building rather than one created by PATH, according to a
panel of scientists.
The Independent Scientific Advisory Board was called on this summer
to review the analytical methods on which NMFS based its draft Anadromous
Fish Appendix
Federal officials offered scientific observations, but little direction,
this week as they headed for a winter-long gauntlet of public hearings
over what is the best course for Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife
recovery planning.
Mid-December is expected to bring a draft Corps of Engineers feasibility
study on Lower Snake River dam breaching and other salmon passage alternatives.
Planned for release at the same time is a draft "federal caucus" Four-H
paper aimed at weighing ...
Those who follow Columbia River Basin salmon recovery efforts had a
mixed reaction to a federal agency caucus' outline of fish and wildlife
management options presented Tuesday in Portland.
But they were unanimous on one topic: Someone must take the reins if
a plan is to be defined and implemented to revive fish populations.
Twelve salmon and steelhead "Evolutionarily Significant Units" and seven
resident fish and other aquatic species in the region have been listed
as threatened or ...
Northwest members of Congress who oppose removing dams to save at-risk
salmon said the Four-H Working Paper this week confirmed their belief the
federal agencies won't pursue that option.
But citing the vagueness of the document, some were less certain about
that conclusion than others.
"The devil's in the details, but it looks like the dams may be off the
table," Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said. "I may not have to chain myself
to the top of the dams after all."
In public speeches on the
Neither initial conclusions reached in large part from PATH analyses,
nor an addendum to National Marine Fisheries Service's Anadromous Fish
Appendix, utilizing the agency's own scientific analysis, are the stuff
from which dam breaching decisions should be made, according to reviews
penned by the Independent Scientific Advisory Panel.
The 11-member ISAB completed reviews over the past month of NMFS' draft
appendix to the Corps of Engineers "Lower Snake River Juvenile ...
The Nez Perce tribe and the state of Oregon joined this week a lawsuit
that seeks federal operations of the lower Snake River dams in accordance
with the federal Clean Water Act regulations.
According to the Nez Perce, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operations
of the dams violate state and federal water quality standards. It also
accuses the Corps of considering the CWA standards for temperature and
dissolved gas as merely "aspirational" and says the Corps failure to consider
the ...
In-river boxes intended to protect eggs and newly hatched salmon and
steelhead fry, engineered streams that counteract the effects of dams on
migrations, and strobe light configurations that steer fish away from mincing
dam turbines -- all are old fish recovery ideas whose time may have come
as alternatives to dam breaching.
Those ideas were the focus of a trio on presentations Wednesday at the
Northwest Power Planning Council's meeting in Twin Falls, Idaho. Guiding
the discussions ...
Voters in Washington will decide next week whether the state should
ban commercial gillnets and other net fishing in Puget Sound and, perhaps,
on the Columbia River.
Initiative 696 has recently been picking up speed with voters and gained
the endorsement of The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash. as well as the support
of environmental and fishing groups.
It also has received some unexpected opposition from the Sierra Club
and the Seattle Audubon Society, which oppose I-696 because the ...
A major end-of-session battle over Pacific salmon restoration is brewing
between members of Congress and President Clinton, and could wind up being
settled in high-level closed-door budget negotiations.
Clinton is being urged to veto the annual appropriation bill for the
departments of commerce, state and justice because it contains an Endangered
Species Act exemption for Alaskan salmon fishermen and lower-than-expected
funding for West Coast state salmon recovery projects and ...
PATH updated its 1998 preliminary report
on fall chinook survival and presented those changes at last weeks meeting
of the inter-agency Implementation Team.
Though the updated report has gone through
more extensive review by PATH scientists and the Scientific Review Panel,
it lacks any defining conclusions because of wide variances in the uncertainty
of juvenile survival rates of transported fish compared to non-transported
fish, or D-value.
With a low delayed mortality, or "D" ...
Congress this week approved an amendment to the 1980
Northwest Power Act
that would prevent the Bonneville Power Administration
from setting
electricity rates for the years 2002-2006 so as to
build a "slush fund
for dam removal," the measure's author, Sen. Slade
Gorton, R-Wash.,
declared.
The measure would limit rates, which are currently
in the process of
being set by BPA, to a level that will cover the
fish and wildlife costs
that are projected to occur during the rate ...
The Independent Economic Advisory Board
certified at its meeting in
Portland Thursday that it has completed
its review of the economic
reports associated with a U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers study on
breaching four Lower Snake River dams.
However, adding some of its own caveats
to wording provided by the
Corps, IEAB members said that signing
doesn't mean it is agreeing with
the final version of the Economic Appendix
to the Corps' Lower Snake
River Juvenile Salmon Migration ...
The 1 1/2-year-old Multi-Species Framework
process has "cranked up the
engine" on a Battelle Laboratories' megacomputer
and staffers now await
the opportunity to interpret data that
predicts potential biological
impacts of seven proposed fish and wildlife
strategies.
The Framework's management committee heard
an update of the process
during a recent meeting in Spokane. The
seven strategies were distilled
from nearly 30 submitted by tribes, state
and federal agencies, ...
Poor scores from the Columbia Basin's 13 tribes pushed numerous Lower
Snake River dam passage projects to the bottom -- but not off -- of the
Corps of Engineers fiscal year 2000 priority list.
Corps officials are confident that enough money will be in hand to pay
for all of the proposed projects as they are now described.
The state and federal members of the multi-agency System Configuration
Team (SCT) are charged with ranking mainstem research and construction
projects proposed for ...
Two players in the Columbia Basin's salmon recovery effort have delivered
unsolicited, and unkind, reviews of the draft Anadromous Fish Appendix
prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Comments offered by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission criticize the document's contents and
many of its conclusions, as well as the process used to compile the information.
The document is intended as the biological appendix to the U.S. ...
Two high-profile regional leaders, one elected and the other appointed,
took the podium Aug. 11 in Helena, Mont., to urge the Northwest Power Planning
Council to take a leadership role to ensure that region retains the benefits
it now derives from the Columbia River.
Montana Gov. Marc Racicot said the four Northwest governors whose representatives
sit on the NWPPC want to "ensure the equitable distribution of the Basin's
benefits" and a "fair and balanced sharing of the burden" of fish and
Endangered Snake River salmon are a national responsibility as well
as a
regional one, and all scientifically credible recovery plans, including
dam breaching, should be evaluated equally, 107 members of the U.S.
House of Representatives said this week in a letter to President
Clinton.
The letter dated Tuesday, Aug. 4, was signed by 12 Republicans and 95
Democrats, including six of the nine Northwest Democratic House members.
Reps. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., and George Miller, D-Calif., ...
The cost of electricity to a residential consumer
in the Northwest could rise by $1.50 to $5.30 per
month if four lower Snake River Dams are breached
in an attempt to save endangered runs of Snake
River salmon and steelhead.
Breaching could also cost farmers an additional 27
cents per bushel to ship grain if barges can't
travel up the Snake River to Lewiston, and it
could mean a loss of as much as $9.2 million in
irrigated farmland values.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ...
The final recommendations are expected to go to
the Secretary of the Army in the year 2000. The
report will help Congress determine the best
course of action towards recovery of Snake River
endangered and listed salmon.
Loss of the four dams would reduce the output of
the federal power system by 1,231 average
megawatts in an average water year, or about 11
percent of the federal system's production and
about 5 percent of total energy production in the
Northwest.
That loss will ...
New government cost estimates of breaching four
Snake River dams provide additional proof that it
would cause an economic disaster in the region,
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., said this week.
In a Senate floor speech aimed at calling
attention to three Army Corps of Engineers studies
on the impacts on irrigation, barge transportation
and power production, Gorton made one of his
strongest cogent arguments to date against the
proposal for restoring endangered salmon.
Although he ...
The House commerce, state and justice
appropriation bill does not include any money for
President Clinton's proposed Pacific Salmon Fund
for West Coast states. The Senate has approved
$100 million to be shared by the Alaska,
Washington, Oregon and California, and Indian
tribes for endangered coastal salmon recovery
projects and implementation of the recent
U.S.-Canada salmon treaty.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., an Appropriations
Committee member, plans to push for the money ...
After winning House committee approval, supporters
of a resolution that would put Congress on record
against breaching four lower Snake River dams were
not in a rush to elevate the issue to the full
House. The non-binding sense-of-Congress
resolution passed the Resources Committee by voice
vote on July 21.
But the author, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said
more work needs to be done before a House vote
could be sought. A leading co-sponsor, Rep. Greg
Walden, R-Ore., signaled he felt ...
Sponsors of a study that predicts Snake River wild spring and summer
chinook extinction by 2017 say the new information serves as a call for
policy makers to immediately pursue an aggressive restoration plan.
"This is only going in one direction," Dr. Phil Mundy said of spawning
ground population "trend lines" that have, particularly since 1981, been
plummeting downward.
Mundy prepared the report, "Status and Expected Time to Extinction for
Snake River Spring and Summer Chinook ...
The Northwest can save salmon, keep
jobs and protect "our vision and
values," but it won't come without
a price, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith,
R-Oregon, said during a "Save Our
Communities" rally June 26.
Smith was the keynote speaker for
the rally, which was designed to voice
opposition to any plans for breaching
the four lower Snake River dams.
The federal government is evaluating
the benefits of removing the
earthen portions of the four dams
as part of a long-term plan to ...
A "delighted" Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., this week passed legislation
through the Senate to block the possibility of raising Bonneville Power
Administration rates now to pay for possible future dam removal.
Gorton said his measure, which amends the 1980 Northwest Power Act,
would prevent creation of a "slush fund" sought by salmon advocates
who
have called for higher rates than Bonneville has proposed for its next
five year rate period, 2002-2006.
Citing unnamed "dam removal ...
Northwest energy and conservation groups are taking the Bonneville Power
Administration, and the region's congressional delegation, to task
regarding a 2002-2006 rate proposal that they say has gone from bad
to
worse.
A June 15 letter from the Northwest Energy Coalition-Sierra Club asks
BPA administrator Judith Johansen to rethink a proposal offered recently
to "direct service industries" such as the aluminum industry.
A separate letter dated June 17 from Northwest Energy ...
Northwest Republican senators this week argued against tearing down
dams to restore salmon by citing new scientific evidence that increased
ocean temperatures may be a more significant factor in fish declines.
Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, highlighted testimony
from two scientists in support of the theory that Pacific Ocean conditions
off the Northwest coast are having a greater impact on endangered Columbia
and Snake river salmon than river ...
Northwest Democratic members of Congress have come out against raising
Bonneville Power Administration's wholesale electricity rates to increase
funding available for future salmon recovery programs.
In a letter sent June 4 to Vice President Al Gore, six Democrats said
Northwest customers shouldn't pay higher rates to cover the possible expenses
of destroying four lower Snake River dams if that or other costly actions
are determined necessary to save endangered fish.
They said ...
Democratic critics said Northwest
House Republicans' legislation opposing destruction of dams on the Columbia
and Snake rivers is flawed and would politicize scientific efforts to determine
the best salmon recovery methods.
At a joint hearing of two House Resources
Committee subcommittees on Thursday, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., defended
his resolution against dam removal, saying it would lead to a more comprehensive
solution instead of one focused on breaching four federal dams on ...
The Army Corps of Engineers' budget
for Columbia River salmon mitigation would be reduced to $70 million for
FY2000, under a Senate appropriation bill approved in committee this week.
The spending level, which is $30
million below the Clinton administration's request, was included in the
energy and water appropriations bill approved by the Senate Appropriations
Committee on Thursday. Last year, Congress appropriated $95 million for
the program.
The committee said the ...
99 PROCESSES CONSOLIDATED
By Barry Espenson
A merger of the public involvement
processes for three federal agency "decision tracks" is needed to ensure
the region's citizens have their say on important Columbia Basin salmon
recovery issues, according to conservation and fishing groups.
A May 20 letter signed by leaders
of 10 special interest groups asks that federal agencies coordinate and
schedule hearings to assure the best possible participation from the public.
A first step would be
Portland General Electric is proposing
to aid the recovery of endangered salmon and steelhead runs by removing
two hydroelectric dams in the Sandy River basin. The proposal is the result
of a collaboration between PGE, the city of Portland, the state of Oregon,
the National Marine Fisheries Service and other state and federal agencies.
PGE is proposing to remove Marmot
Dam on the mainstem Sandy River and Little Sandy Dam on the Little Sandy
River, a tributary of the Bull Run River. ...
Northwest tribes believe breaching
the four lower Snake River dams would benefit both Native Americans in
the region and Columbia River basin salmon, but that breaching alone could
not bring salmon back to the historic level that was once the center of
tribal life.
The tribes came to these conclusion
in a preliminary draft report on Tribal Circumstances/Perspective Analysis
released this week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Drawdown Economic
Workgroup. DREW is studying the ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service
wants a quick review and comments on its Anadromous Fish Appendix from
the scientific panel that produced much of the analysis contained in the
document.
But appendix conclusions based on
analysis produced by NMFS alone may deserve closer scrutiny from the scientists
collectively called Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses (PATH), according
to some members of NMFSs Implementation Team (IT).
IT-PATH discussions Wednesday focused
on setting ...
Refined cost estimates show that two fish and wildlife alternatives
under serious consideration in the Federal Caucus and other processes in
the Columbia Basin will approach nearly $1 billion a year by the year
2011, say representatives of federal agencies in a May 12 memorandum to
the Bonneville Power Administration.
As a result, BPA is being asked to consider an alternative rate case
strategy that will build a large reserve beyond the rate case years
2002-2006.
The reserve -- ...
Four Northwest congressmen this week spoke as one in support of keeping
both the benefits and the burdens of federal power in their region and
against privatizing the Bonneville Power Administration.
But a Northwest environmental group urged Congress to reform BPA and
require it to increase its electric rates to increase spending for salmon
recovery and conservation and renewable energy programs.
Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and Doc Hastings
and George ...
Diverse and contradictory possibilities appear for the Columbia River
region of the future, Catholic bishops say in a 65-page document that blames
the ill health of the watershed on "human ignorance, human carelessness,
human indifference and human greed."
The bishops, in a "pastoral reflection" titled "The Columbia River Watershed:
Realities and Possibilities," say the region faces two options: "economic
stability and ecological integrity and sustainability if people take seriously
their
A preliminary look at seven proposed Columbia River fish and wildlife
management alternatives gives only a glimpse of the potential costs --
some of which total billions of dollars -- and benefits to the humans that
live in the basin.
A "summary of human effects" completed in late April by contractor CH2M-Hill
emphasizes that the initial work is limited in scope. Because of gaps in
available data, the report provides a sketchy look at alternatives being
considered via the ...
The four Northwest governors expressed concerns this week that a regional
salmon recovery effort could be damaged by the imbalance of power between
regional interests and federal authority.
All four governors met Tuesday (May 4) in the Northwest Power Planning
Councils Portland offices for a briefing on salmon recovery efforts as
well as on the future of the Bonneville Power Administration and its continued
role in providing low-cost electricity to Northwest consumers. It was only
the ...
None were ruled out, but a "constructive review" produced numerous ideas
for reshaping and fleshing out seven proposed alternatives for Columbia
Basin fish and wildlife management.
Alternatives range from dam breaching to current operations with severe
limitations on harvest and emphasis on habitat restoration.
Ecological and "human effects" work group scientists completed their
review -- initially billed as a first-round scientific analysis -- last
week. For the most part the reviews ...
A key document in the Corps of Engineers' ongoing evaluation of fish
hydrosystem passage strategies restates the scientific assertion that breaching
the Lower Snake River dams offers the best chance of recovering the river's
threatened and endangered salmon stocks.
But that judgment comes with qualifications that the National Marine
Fisheries Service calls "uncertainties."
The document, released by NMFS Wednesday, considers whether dam breaching
or transporting fish ...
As expected, reaction to the National Marine Fisheries Services "Assessment
of Lower Snake River Hydrosystem Alternatives on Survival and Recovery
of Snake River Salmonids" ranged from kudos to NMFS for stressing
scientific uncertainties to dismay over any suggestions that decisions
should be delayed.
"More than anything, this report tells me that we still don't know
if dam breaching would have any impact on restoring Snake River salmon
runs -- it's a long shot," ...
Will Stelle, NMFS northwest regional director, and Peter Kareiva, a
senior scienetist at NMFS' Northwest Science Center, hit the road soon
after the release of the Anadromous Fish Appendix to explain the findings
to the public.
Stelle and Kareiva were in Lewiston Thursday night and traveled to the
Tri Cities for a meeting this morning in Kennewick. A public meeting is
scheduled from 5 to 7 tonight at Richland's DoubleTree Hotel's main ballroom.
Stelle traveled to Boise for meetings ...
A pair of scientists who signed a letter urging a return to "more
normative river conditions" say they intended no dam-breaching endorsement.
But both have decided to excuse themselves from the review of processes
leading toward a "1999 decision" on hydrosystem configuration.
Drs. Phil Mundy and Rick Williams met Friday (April 9) with their colleagues
on the Independent Scientific Advisory Board and the Independent Scientific
Review Panel. Williams, a University ...
Two of the region's newly seated leaders expressed contrasting views
on two Columbia Basin hydrosystem issues last week in presentations to
the Northwest Power Planning Council in Boise.
Both Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission executive director Don Sampson stressed that the region needs
to reach a collaborative decision on fish and wildlife recovery strategy.
But they also pointed out potential obstacles to a consensus plan.
Kempthorne employed
West Coast commercial fishermen have told President Clinton they oppose
an increase in his $100 million Pacific Coast salmon recovery fund budget
now before Congress.
West Coast governors and members of Congress are seeking to increase
the amount in the fiscal year 2000 federal budget to $200 million or even
more.
In a March letter to Clinton, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations, which represents commercial and family businesses in California,
Oregon, ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced at its multi-agency
Implementation Team meeting Thursday that the agency would release its
long-awaited draft Anadromous Fish Appendix at a press conference Tuesday,
April 13.
The draft appendix will be incorporated into the Army Corps of Engineers'
"Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Study."
That study looks at the biological and economic impacts of breaching the
four lower Snake River ...
A letter signed by 200 fishery scientists and biologists urging changes
in federal salmon recovery strategies will be answered, at least in part,
with the release later this month of a key document related to the National
Marine Fisheries Service's "1999 Decision," according to a NMFS
official. NMFS is expected to deliver its "Anadromous Fish Appendix"
to the Corps of Engineers' Lower Snake River Juvenile Passage Feasibility
Study during the week of April 12, ...
State and tribal representatives are pressing the federal government
to clarify its commitment -- financial and otherwise -- to the collaborative
fish and wildlife recovery effort known as the Multi-Species Framework
Project.
This week: -- The Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission issued Wednesday
a strongly worded letter suggesting the federal parties have "opted
to implement a separate framework process behind closed federal doors."
-- On Monday, state and tribal ...
A panel of scientist says policymakers guiding decisions on fish passage
improvements at Columbia-Snake river dams must broaden their approach by
adopting guidelines which emphasize biodiversity and are aimed at long-term
survival goals.
Members of the National Marine Fisheries Service's System Configuration
Team (SCT) says that such considerations are a part of their deliberations.
But short-term improvements in survival of threatened or endangered species
are a necessary part of ...
A $400,000 study of transportation impacts in Washington State related
to breaching of the four Lower Snake dams says such costs could range from
$132 million to $406 million, depending on "geo-technical" considerations.
The recently completed study by Lund Consulting and HDR Engineering
was commissioned by the state's Legislative Transportation Committee, which
includes both state Senate and House members.
The study notes that wheat and barley constitute nearly 75 ...
Washington Republican Rep. Doc Hastings has asked Congress to approve
a resolution that declares its opposition to dam removal as a means to
recover threatened and endangered fish species in the Columbia Basin.
"Tearing down our dams to save threatened salmon is not a silver-bullet
solution," Hastings said today (March 19) after introducing the resolution
in the House of Representatives.
"And by focusing solely on dam removal we fail to recognize the
other threats ...
The Army Corps of Engineers reacted strongly last week to environmental
groups' release of information about potential recreation benefits resulting
from the breaching four lower Snake River dams.
The Sierra Club, Save Our Wild Salmon, Trout Unlimited and the NW Sportfishing
Industry Association all claimed that a preliminary economic report put
recreational benefits of removing the four dams in the billions of dollars.
The information, they said, came from their reading of a ...
Assertions that federal agencies violated terms of the Endangered Species
Act with actions related to a 1995 Biological Opinion for Snake River salmon
were rebuffed Monday by the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals.
The BiOp outlines both short- and long-term measures designed to avoid
putting listed species at risk of extinction. It addresses the fate of
Snake River sockeye, spring/summer chinook and fall chinook salmon.
A goal set out in the BiOp was to decide this year on a long-term ...
Another player was penciled onto the roster of the newly-created Columbia
River Basin Forum Wednesday with the announcement that the state of Idaho
will take an official role in the process.
The state held back in late January when other "parties" decided
to proceed with formation of the organization as a platform for discussions
on Basin fish and wildlife management issues. Four state governments, 13
Indian tribes and nine federal government entities are listed in the ...
Reaching agreement on the direction for federal, state and tribal fish
and wildlife restoration efforts is a complicated business -- a fact that
surfaced early in discussions of the fledgling Columbia River Basin Forum.
The first gathering of the Forum's 12-member committee Wednesday in
Portland showed various entities are on similar, though not necessarily
coordinated, tracks toward a common goal of producing a unified, basinwide
recovery plan.
The Forum's founding document ...
At the end of this month, Ted Strong will step down as executive director
of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. He will have served
in that position for 10 years, or nearly half of the organization's existence.
The following are excerpts from an interview published in the Yakama
Nation Review in which Strong discusses key issues related to salmon restoration.
(For the views for incoming CRITFC director Don Sampson, see CBB, March
1-5)
On Restoration and Declining ...
Recreation benefits of removing four lower Snake River dams could run
into billions of dollars, according to environmental and sportfishing groups'
reading of a preliminary Drawdown Regional Economic Workgroup report.
Sierra Club, Save Our Wild Salmon, Trout Unlimited and the NW Sportfishing
Industry Association all claim a preliminary DREW report on the benefits
of breaching four lower Snake River dams puts benefits to river users,
both fishers and non-fishers, and local economies ...
The annual cost to acquire an additional one million acre feet of water
to augment Snake River flows could cost the region as little as $10.4 million
or as much as $189.8 million, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
The cost to acquire the water, however, is only one of the impacts that
could affect Idaho farmers and recreationists along the Snake River if
flow is increased with the intent to improve downstream passage of juvenile
smolts.
Al Reiners, agricultural economist for BOR
Donald Sampson, the new executive director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission, says it will be his job to build consensus among tribes
and other entities gridlocked over salmon recovery.
"Restoring salmon means now more than ever that we will have to
find ways to work together rather than against each other," Sampson
said in a lengthy interview published in the March edition of the Confederated
Umatilla Journal. "We need to be willing to make honest ...
The "federal family" has charted a course that could produce
the promised "1999 Decision" in the form of a National Marine
Fisheries Service biological opinion in the late winter-early spring of
2000, according to a NMFS official.
The exact shape and scope of the decision is still under discussion
within a federal caucus but the process will produce at "bare minimum"
a decision on operation and/or modification of four Lower Snake River dams,
according ...
Two Northwest senators on Wednesday raised concerns over possible federal
requirements for additional spill at Columbia and Snake river dams to aid
salmon migration.
The issue arose during the first hearing of the Senate Water and Power
Subcommittee under the leadership of its new chairman, Sen. Gordon Smith,
R-Ore. The topic was the fiscal 2000 budget proposals for the Bureau of
Reclamation and federal power marketing agencies. Witnesses included Reclamation
Commissioner Eluid Martinez
Will the breaching of the four lower Snake River dams lead to the recovery
of endangered spring/summer chinook in the Snake River Basin?
Maybe. Maybe not. The answer depends on knowing whether the hydrosystem,
through direct and delayed mortality, is killing most of the fish or whether
it's something else -- poor ocean conditions, hatchery impacts, or multiple
factors.
On Thursday, a "Technical Forum on PATH" repeated the primary
conclusion of PATH's 1998 Final Report -- ...
The estimated annual impact of removing four lower Snake River dams
from the hydropower system increased by about $30 million per year when
the economic impact on the transmission system was added into a Drawdown
Regional Economic Workgroup (DREW) analysis this month.
According to the draft hydropower impact report, removal of the four
dams could now cost the region a low of $180 million to a high of $390
million annually, a change from previously-reported impacts that ranged
from ...
Participants in the development of a multi-species management framework
used a Portland public meeting to tout their project's potential to bring
order to fish and wildlife decision making.
The Monday meeting came at a turning point in the framework committee's
own processes. Work will now shift from the initial development of a broad
range of policy alternatives to the first scientific scrutiny at those
alternatives' potential biological and economic consequences.
The initial ...
More than 100 questions regarding the Plan for Analysis and Testing
Hypotheses (PATH) have been distilled into eight categories of questions
to be addressed by PATH scientists at an all-day public meeting next week.
Meanwhile, while PATH's work focuses on the hydropower system, the Northwest
congressional delegation is considering sending a letter to the Northwest
Power Planning Council that would urge the Council to develop a draft "non-drawdown"
salmon recovery alternative to
The Clinton Administration has requested that $100 million be appropriated
by Congress in Fiscal Year 2000 to fund Army Corps of Engineers projects
aimed at improving salmon survival through the federal Columbia-Snake river
hydroelectric system.
President Clinton's fiscal year 2000 budget devotes $41 million to structural
improvements at dams to aid adult and juvenile fish passage and $59 million
to continue studies and evaluations for long-term passage improvements
-- including ...
Jim Yost, natural resources advisor to Idaho's new Gov. Dirk Kempthorne,
warned the region Thursday that Idaho may soon shut off Upper Snake River
water used to augment flows for salmon.
At the Feb. 4 meeting of the Regional Forum's Implementation Team, Yost
asked for an explanation of the biological benefits of the additional flow.
"We've been asking for this information for four years," he
said. "How am I going to go back to Idaho and explain how we're going
to ...
Oregon's Fish and Wildlife Commission, after listening to arguments
on why it should endorse removing four Lower Snake River dams for biological
reasons, chose instead to seek further information.
At their regularly scheduled meeting last Friday (Jan. 22), commissioners
listened to ODFW staff, along with Idaho Fish and Game staff, outline conclusions
from the Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypothesis (PATH) report. The Idaho
Fish and Game Commission last year endorsed the breaching ...
Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith intends to be an "activist"
chairman of a subcommittee that will play a key role this year in Columbia
River Basin power and fish restoration issues.
The Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and
Power will pursue "oversight of the 1999 Decision," Smith said
in an interview this week with The Columbia Basin Bulletin.
Smith said he expects the subcommittee to conduct several hearings related
to the ...
and Eric Barker
The University of Idaho has contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers
to conduct forums that will assess the potential social impacts of three
salmon recovery alternatives in 17 Idaho, Washington and Oregon communities.
Results of the community-level social assessments will be incorporated
into the feasibility report and environmental impact statement being completed
as part of the Lower Snake River Juvenile Fish Migration Study conducted
by the Corps. The ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to consider the cumulative effects of Idaho Power dams on anadromous
fish in its process of relicensing Snake River dams.
FERC initially proposed to evaluate site specific impacts, not the cumulative
effects suggested by NMFS.
In addition, Idaho Power is already working with FERC on a biological
assessment of the company's Hells Canyon complex of three dams, four years
before it will apply to ...
The estimated survival of Snake River juvenile fish migrating downstream
through the federal hydroelectric system is higher now than it was in 1964 -- before three of the four Lower Snake River dams were built.
National Marine Fisheries Service researchers say smolt survival through
the hydrosystem during the mid-1960 was about 40 percent. Today, smolt
survival through eight dams is estimated to range from 40 to 60 percent
annually.
The survival trend -- displayed in a bar graph ...
Lawyers for a coalition of environmental and fishing groups on Monday
said the federal government's approach to salmon recovery errs by focusing
on "life support" rather than aiming to cure the disease.
American Rivers, in a pair of appeals, is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit to require that the document guiding recovery actions
at Columbia-Snake river dams be revamped. The court convened in Portland.
In one case, American Rivers and the other ...
Federal officials say though the final version of the Lower Snake River
Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Study will not be completed until
early 2000, it may still be possible to issue, as promised, key recommendations
this year regarding the long-term operations of the federal Columbia/Snake
River hydropower system. Rather than wait for the final feasibility study
document, the federal government could use the "preferred alternative"
in the draft document as the basis ...
Economic advisers for the Northwest Power Planning Council say lack
of information is making difficult for them to fully evaluate the economic
analyses being produced for the Army Corps of Engineers' Lower Snake River
Feasibility Study.
In comments on the Drawdown Regional Economic Workgroup's water supply
analysis, the Council's Independent Economic Analysis Board (IEAB) said
this lack of information hampers the economists ability to fully evaluate
the workgroup's conclusions regarding
and Bill Crampton
The Army Corps of Engineers said this week that the "1999 Decision"
on the long-term configuration of the Columbia/Snake River hydropower system
will be delayed until the year 2000.
The key document for the 1999 Decision -- the draft feasibility report
and environmental impact statement for the Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon
Migration Feasibility Study -- has been delayed from April to a later date
which has not yet been set.
The delay in the ...
The Bonneville Power Administration on Dec. 21 unveiled its strategy
for selling electricity in a way the agency says will cover up to $721
million a year in fish and wildlife obligations for the 2001-2006 period.
In addition, rates and contracts under Bonneville's "Power Subscription
Proposal" will be designed to build financial reserves for the post-2006
period, when fish and wildlife costs under certain scenarios could top
the $1 billion a year mark.
Under a federal ...
] A man with a long history in Corps of Engineers
fish program planning, and a future in retirement, predicts the tug-o-war
over salmon recovery science and solutions has only just begun.
Dave Geiger, the chief of the Northwestern Division Salmon Coordination
Office, officially retired Jan. 2 after 35 years with the Corps. The Oregon
State University graduate has spent nearly his entire career working out
of either the division or district Corps offices in Portland.
Geiger bows out at
Proven salmon restoration methods exist.
All thats needed is the leadership and creativity to adapt
them to the broader scale that is the Columbia-Snake river system and build
the consensus to implement the plan, according to Donald Sampson.
Sampson explained his theory during a luncheon presentation at
the fifth Pacific Northwest Public Affairs Conference held Wednesday at
Portland State University. At-Risk Economy, At-Risk Environment was sponsored
by ...
A recently released scientific report on Columbia Basin hatchery operations
has drawn praise, qualified support and outright criticism from those involved
in a congressionally mandated review of artificial production practices.
The "Review of Salmonid Artificial Production in the Columbia River
Basin" was prepared by the seven-member Science Review Team at the
request of the Northwest Power Planning Council.
The report was described by Chip McConnaha, a SRT member and the ...
The Columbia Basin Multi-Species Framework development process continues
into its next phase with trust-building as lively a pursuit as the collection
of biological, economic and social data.
Framework staff on Monday presented five sketches of basin fish and
wildlife management alternatives to the diverse membership of the framework
management committee. The goal of the process is to define a set of management
alternatives that can be analyzed to determine potential impacts of ...
Idaho Steelhead and Salmon Unlimited, the Northwest Sport Fishing Industry
Association and several Idaho sportsmen are suing the Army Corps of Engineers
and others to force the agencies to act on a plan to move Caspian terns
in the Columbia River estuary.
The lawsuit calls for the Corps, the National Marine Fisheries Service,
the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish & Wildlife to move the 10,000
breeding pairs of terns off Rice Island, to eliminate the threat to ...
The Columbia/Snake River flow augmentation regime prescribed in 1995
as part of the National Marine Fisheries Service's salmon recovery strategy
will be continued at least through next spring and summer.
That's the decision agreed to Monday by NMFS' interagency Implementation
Team (IT), though Idaho's representative went along somewhat grudgingly.
River flows have for the past several years been augmented in the spring
and summer from Snake River storage reservoirs in Idaho. The ...
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber on Nov. 5 issued a strongly-worded, three-page
letter expressing concern over the Bonneville Power Administration's management
of Columbia River flows and Bonneville staffers' statements about the PATH
(Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses) process.
This week (Nov. 18) BPA Administrator Johansen, in a responding letter
to Kitzhaber, said she welcomes the criticism "as the beginning of
an important dialogue." She hopes the exchange of letters ...
The Corps of Engineers made it clear Monday that it is studying a range
of options for improving juvenile salmon migration through the hydropower
system on the lower Snake River.
The Corps has declared no favorite -- yet.
But only one option triggered debate during a study update for the public
in Portland -- the prospect of breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental,
Little Goose and Lower Granite dams.
The meeting was the third of five being held in the region to inform
the public on
Potentially changed directives could well make System Configuration
Team's complicated job even tougher over the coming year.
The multi-agency assemblage of biologists and engineering experts serves
as an advisory body, reviewing Corps of Engineers' annual Columbia River
Fish Mitigation Program mainstem capital construction project proposals
and recommending priorities.
But 1999, when planning takes place for fiscal year 2000, will not be
business as usual. The Corps is scheduled ...
Just as advertised, the Nov. 17-19 Multi-Species Framework workshop
will represent the first step toward the scientific analysis of divergent
"visions" for Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife management.
As of midday Monday (Nov. 8) slightly more than 100 people had signed
up for the policy alternatives workshop, which begins at 9 a.m. on Nov.
17 at the John Q. Hammons trade center at the Holiday Inn Portland Airport
Hotel.
"It's a very broad cross-section of ...
More than 40 percent of the funds allocated for 1999 Columbia/Snake
mainstem projects intended to improve fish passage has been earmarked for
the effort to reduce juvenile salmon mortality at Bonneville Dam. The multi-agency
System Configuration Team on Monday (Oct. 26) completed its ranking of
projects proposed for fiscal year 1999 under the Corps of Engineers' Columbia
River Fish Mitigation Program. The panel recommended $81.26 million in
spending on a list of 47 projects involving ...
The potential for enhancing salmon survival with major operational or
structural changes at John Day Dam will be explored through a yearlong,
$3.3 million study launched this year by the Corps of Engineers.
The congressionally mandated study is intended to analyze mostly existing
information on the estimated economic costs and biological benefits of
two drawdown scenarios. The first is called spillway crest drawdown, from
the reservoir's normal operating level of 265 feet above sea level
Washington Sen. Slade Gorton failed Wednesday to win White House concessions
on legislative language aimed at bolstering congressional authority over
any activity that could lead to the breaching of federal dams in the Columbia-Snake
river system.
The rebuff came despite the fact that Gorton tried to tempt the administration
with a new bargaining chip.
Gorton's office said he officially withdrew the language Wednesday night,
as well as a proposal to include $22 million in the bill ...
Idaho's fish and game commissioners have asked their Washington and
Oregon counterparts to join them in declaring that the "best available
science" points to the breaching of four lower Snake River dams as
the only management option being considered likely to recover Columbia
and Snake river salmon and steelhead stocks.
Top officials from the three states' fish and wildlife agencies, as
well as four Oregon, three Washington and one Idaho fish and wildlife commissioners
met ...
Results from a scientific review of prototype fish passage facilities
show that these facilities can improve the survival rate of juvenile salmon
and steelhead during their downstream passage.
This information and more was revealed during the Army Corps of Engineer-sponsored
three-day Anadromous Fish Evaluation Program annual research review in
Portland, Oct. 13 through 15.
Much of the research on fish passage facilities was done at the Lower
Granite Dam on the Snake River. The ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service is taking another look at the
role of flow augmentation in Columbia River salmon recovery.
Recent scientific data on the relationship between river flow levels
and salmon survival were presented at the October 2 meeting of the Implementation
Team, a policy group representing federal and state agencies. NMFS hydro
manager Brian Brown said that at the team's next meeting, November 5, he
would ask the group "whether we need to reconsider the ...
Several scientists associated with the "PATH process" reacted
sharply this week to suggestions that an independent science review panel
was "sandbagged " when evaluating hypotheses related to the mortality
and recovery of spring/summer chinook salmon.
A "Weight of Evidence" report released last week suggested
that breaching the four Lower Snake River dams would be a more effective
recovery strategy than continuing with current river operations or ...
Many of the Drawdown Regional Economic Workgroup studies evaluating
economic impacts of drawdown or breaching the four lower Snake River dams
are behind schedule.
Several of the schedules have slipped because parts of the DREW study
rely on the results of the National Marine Fisheries Service's PATH report,
which itself is behind schedule. A report on PATH's 1998 activities is
due next month.
Other studies are simply dealing with difficult issues that take time
and are slowing ...
An independent scientists'; report indicates that drawdown of the four
lower Snake River dams is more likely to produce salmon recovery than transportation
of juveniles past the dams.
The long-awaited results of the peer review of the "weighting of
evidence" process were presented to the October 1 meeting of the National
Marine Fisheries Service's Implementation Team.
The scientists assessed evidence related to three possible actions for
recovery of Snake River chinook ...
In response to deep cuts in the Army Corps of Engineers' salmon recovery
budget, federal, state and tribal representatives met Wednesday to shed
about $30 million in proposed fish passage projects at Columbia/Snake River
mainstem dams.
The System Configuration Team, a multi-agency technical team, is charged
annually with recommending Columbia River Fish Mitigation program spending
priorities. The Corps, as the action agency, ultimately decides which programs
to carry out.
The ...
A broad plan to guide the Bonneville Power Administration's fish and
wildlife funding process was critiqued, alternately, as too lavish or too
lean Tuesday by a panel ranging from environmentalists to industrial power
customers.
Panelists also debated cost recovery strategies being mulled by BPA
that would help guarantee the agency's ability to fulfill financial obligations
during the 2002-2006 period and beyond.
The panel discussion on proposed BPA "fish funding tools"
was
Ken Casavant, former Washington member of the Northwest Power Planning
Council, has been appointed to the Council's Independent Economic Analysis
Board.
Casavant, who served on the Council from 1994 to April of this year,
is a professor of agricultural economics at Washington State University
in Pullman.
Casavant's specialty is transportation economics. He is director of
the Eastern Washington Intermodal Transportation Study at WSU, which has
evaluated the potential impacts of ...
A House-Senate conference committee Thursday night (Sept. 24) reduced
the Army Corps of Engineers' proposed budget for fish passage modifications
at Columbia/Snake River mainstem dams by $57 million, prompting concern
that funds may be short to implement interim recovery measures for Snake
River wild salmon and steelhead.
The conference committee on energy and water development appropriations
set the Corps' Columbia River Fish Mitigation Program budget at $60 million
for fiscal year ...
The Bonneville Power Administration this morning (Sept. 18) released
a set of principles for future funding of fish and wildlife mitigation,
including the recovery of Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead listed under
the Endangered Species Act.
In setting fish and wildlife costs for the 2002-2006 rate period, Bonneville
will use a "planning range" of $438 million to $721 million a
year.
The range is intended to "keep the options open" for the most
expensive ...
Recent comments from regional interests reflect substantial differences
of opinion over how the Bonneville Power Administration should proceed
with its proposal to finance the future costs of salmon recovery.
Tribes, environmentalists, and the Environmental Protection Agency say
Bonneville's approach may not adequately finance the only recovery alternatives
that will meet the mandates of the Endangered Species Act and the Clean
Water Act.
But utilities and industrial customers ...
A final shaping of Transition Board recommendations on "stranded
cost" recovery mechanisms for the Bonneville Power Administration
will await specifics from the power agency's own proposal for covering
its costs during the 2002-2006 rate period.
"We're just going to sit tight," said Dick Watson, director
of the Northwest Power Planning Council's power planning division. Watson
and other staff members presented a revised version of a "contingent
cost recovery ...
Preliminary numbers finding their way out of the Drawdown Regional Economic
Workgroup indicate that breaching Lower Snake dams could result in $158
million in direct costs to irrigators.
DREW has come up with estimated costs of various activities that would
be needed to implement drawdown or breaching of the four dams. Among those
activities are the costs to modify groundwater wells and pumping systems,
purchasing irrigated land, and establishing cattle watering corridors.
Other ...
The National Marine Fisheries Service's flow augmentation and water
withdrawal policies for the Columbia and lower Snake Rivers do not contribute
to salmon survival and pose a threat to state water rights and local property
rights.
That was the primary criticism leveled against NMFS during a four-hour
congressional hearing Wednesday in Pasco.
State legislators, irrigators, researchers, and members of Congress
expressed concern that NMFS's "zero net water loss" for the ...
A decision to funnel an additional 1 million acre feet of water out
of the Snake River Basin would, if that scenario ever came to pass, have
to be accompanied by decisions about who exactly would feel the most pain.
"It became obvious very early. There isn't a pain-free course,"
said Rich Rigby, activity manager for the Bureau of Reclamation's "1
Million Acre Feet" study. He was asked to give an update on the study,
now in midstream, to the Northwest Power ...
Taking water away from farmers does little to improve the fortunes of
migrating Snake and Columbia River juvenile salmon.
That's the message Karl Dreher, director of Idaho's Department of Water
Resources, carried to the Northwest Power Planning Council.
Dreher on Wednesday provided a summation of his department's report,
"Competing for the Mighty Columbia River-Past, Present and Future:
The Role of Interstate Allocation. A View on Idaho's Experience with ...
With the Senate's 1999 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill
heading to conference committee with the House, Senator Gordon Smith, R-Oregon,
is urging his colleagues "retain the Senate-passed funding level for
the Army Corps of Engineers fish and wildlife mitigation measures on the
Columbia River."
But Smith says he would support expanded scientific review fish mitigation
projects.
The Senate bill calls for $95 million in 1999 for the Corps' Columbia
River Fish
The Bonneville Power Administration this week is taking
a post-2001 fish and wildlife funding proposal to the public that includes
both future fish costs and revenue-raising strategies the agency could
employ to meet all of its financial obligations for the 2002-2006 rate
period.
BPA's fish costs are now capped at an average $435 million a year for
the 1996-2001 period. Fish costs for 2002-2006 are estimated to range from
$438 million to $727 million a year. The final number will ...
Whether as smolts they are transported or migrate in-river, adult spring/summer
wild chinook are returning to the Snake River Basin in numbers far lower
than needed for recovery, according to preliminary results of smolt transportation
research by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Scientists believe Columbia Basin wild salmon stocks need an adult return
rate of 2-6 percent to reverse population decline.
Preliminary research results show transported wild and hatchery ...
Northwest conservation and fishing organizations are asking the Northwest
congressional delegation to add language to a House spending bill that
would dramatically reverse the course of salmon recovery in the Columbia
River Basin.
But regional officials for the Army Corps of Engineers say the organizations
are misreading the intent of the House Appropriations Committee, which
virtually eliminated capital funding for hydropower modifications guided
by the National Marine Fisheries ...
A recovery scenario of interest to Idahoans, and to Idaho farmers in
particular, is one that suggests squeezing another million acre-feet of
water from the Upper Snake River drainage to aid salmon and steelhead passage
in the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers.
An independent study of such a scenario is being carried out by the
Bureau of Reclamation at the request of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In its Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Study,
the Corps is ...
The following is the transcript of President's Bush's remarks on Columbia Basin salmon restoration delivered August 22 at Ice Harbor Dam on the Lower Snake River.
Two orders issued last week by U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden hint at his expectations and set out firm deadlines for federal government reporting on how it will bring a Columbia/Snake river salmon and steelhead protection plan into compliance with the Endangered Species Act.
The head of federal salmon recovery efforts in the Pacific Northwest pledged this week to consult state and tribal officials on what changes need to be made to the 2000 biological opinion on the Columbia Basin federal hydropower system to satisfy a recent court decision rejecting the salmon recovery plan.
The governors of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington on Thursday banded together to proclaim their support for a federal Columbia River salmon and steelhead recovery plan that has been judged inadequate by a federal court.
The federal strategy is working, the governors said, and should be left in place while the federal agencies address concerns about it expressed by U.S. District Court Judge James L. Redden in a May 7 order.
A Portland-based U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday ruled that a federal salmon recovery strategy adopted in December 2000 is illegal because it relies improperly on actions that are not "reasonably certain to occur."
A federal court decision this week that sends federal salmon recovery strategists back to the drawing board is seen by some that are party to the lawsuit as vindication.
Others see it as an opportunity for a mid-course correction of what is essentially, they say, a sound Columbia River basin salmon recovery plan.
Donald Sampson is leaving his position as executive director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for a similar position on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Eastern Oregon.