The Bush administration's implementation of the 2000 Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan received its second annual failing grade this week from Northwest environmentalists, who predicted it will flunk its mandatory third-year evaluation this September.
President George W. Bush in his budget for fiscal year 2004 is asking Congress for less spending by federal agencies on Columbia Basin salmon recovery than he requested last year.
Last year, Bush requested a total of $506 million for FY03, but a catchall spending bill now moving through Congress would cut that by more than $50 million
Frustrations flowed freely over federal dam operations in Montana at a Northwest Power Planning Council hearing in Kalispell this week.
About 20 people, many representing larger groups, generally testified in support of policy changes that are expected to improve habitat conditions for resident fish while still providing water for salmon in the lower Columbia River system.
Support for a Montana/Idaho-led plan to alter dam operations that was approved for public comment this week by the Northwest Power Planning Council has been evident during the Bonneville Power Administration's Financial Choices public process this spring and summer.
The federal Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead recovery effort can list $3.8 billion in costs over the past 20 years, but can not identify a biological benefits bottom line, according to a report recently released by U.S. General Accounting Office.
Already behind schedule, implementation of the Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan would slip further under an annual federal funding bill recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Plans and actions taken by key federal agencies to implement a 10-year Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead recovery program are -- for the most part -- on schedule to meet the first major benchmark in the plan -- a major 2003 evaluation, the National Marine Fisheries Services announced Tuesday.
A six-month lobbying effort produced no converts Wednesday when an Oregon proposal to rotate Northwest Power Planning Council leadership positions on a fixed schedule among the member states was voted down 6-2.
Oregon and Washington fishery managers decided Tuesday to open a fishing season on hatchery-bred summer chinook that starts today (June 28) in the lower Columbia River. It marks the first time since 1973 that anglers may target summer chinook -- known historically as "June hogs" because of their large size.
The federal action agencies say they are "right on track" in implementing measures called for in a December 2000 federal fish recovery plan for the Columbia Basin.
Critics call that assertion a "fairy tale."
Oregon's governor on Tuesday again challenged the Northwest and country as a whole to attack the salmon recovery issue at full power or be turned down a road of social, economic and legal chaos that leads ultimately to dam breaching.
Three Northwest environment groups on Thursday released an internal
cost estimate prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service in
2000 that indicates the federal government is spending only half of
what is needed to implement the Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
Despite vigorous opposition from Oregon and its governor, the Northwest
Power Planning Council on Wednesday made a change to its bylaws that
made possible, just moments later, the election of Washington's Larry
Cassidy as the panel's chairman for a third consecutive year.
Members of fishing and conservation groups questioned the move in
testimony presented before a vote on the bylaw change.
Two Oregon leaders are supporting a plan by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, to
make Northwest salmon recovery a national priority and boost federal
funding by $400 million next year.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., this week gave his endorsement, and Gov. John
Kitzhaber praised the overall $688 million plan, which Crapo announced
on May 3.
A lawsuit filed Thursday asks the U.S. District Court to order the
federal government to rethink a Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan that
the plaintiffs say is rife with faulty scientific assumptions and doomed
to failure because of a lack of Bush Administration support for
implementation funding.
President George Bush's first budget maintains current funding levels
for Pacific salmon recovery programs, but they are more than $400
million below the amount estimated to be needed to implement the
Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
In February, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked Bush administration
officials for an increase of $566 million - $438 million in FY02 and
$128 million as a supplemental add-on in FY01.
President George Bush's first budget maintains current funding levels
for Pacific salmon recovery programs, but they are more than $400
million below the amount estimated to be needed to implement the
Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
In February, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked Bush administration
officials for an increase of $566 million - $438 million in FY02 and
$128 million as a supplemental add-on in FY01.
President George Bush's first budget maintains current funding levels
for Pacific salmon recovery programs, but they are more than $400
million below the amount estimated to be needed to implement the
Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
In February, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked Bush administration
officials for an increase of $566 million - $438 million in FY02 and
$128 million as a supplemental add-on in FY01.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's request for a $500 million increase in
federal spending on Columbia Basin and other Northwest salmon recovery
efforts is unrealistic, according to Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore.
But in a meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Kitzhaber, Smith and
the rest of the state's congressional delegation agreed to make salmon
funding a top priority and to work together to obtain as much as
possible, an aide to Smith said.
Some say push ahead, while others, including the National Marine
Fisheries Service, are urging the Northwest Power Planning Council to
take its time in revising the Columbia-Snake mainstem portion of its
fish and wildlife program.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's proposal that the Bonneville Power
Administration be allowed to skip its approximately $730 million payment
to the U.S. Treasury this year drew no immediate support from Northwest
members of Congress.
Kitzhaber suggested the savings would allow Bonneville to purchase more
high cost electricity instead of further using water stored in Columbia
Basin reservoirs that is intended to improve salmon recovery.
Lawyers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week asked U.S.
District Court Judge Helen J. Frye to dismiss a suit seeking it comply
with the clean water standards when operating four lower Snake River
dams. They said provisions added to the National Marine Fisheries
Service 2000 biological opinion address federal Clean Water Act
requirements and make the case unnecessary.
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission this year will increase
direct contacts with members of Congress and federal officials in
Washington, D.C., on salmon recovery funding and other issues, members
and staff said this week.
With the major task of revamping of the Columbia Basin fish and wildlife
program well under way, and his 65th birthday fast approaching, Idaho's
Todd Maddock in early December decided the time was right to step down
from his position as a member of the Northwest Power Planning Council.
Federal agencies said Thursday that they have put themselves on notice:
If their latest Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan doesn't play out as
envisioned, the National Marine Fisheries Service could play trump cards
as soon as 2003 that might include seeking authorization to breach four
Lower Snake River dams.
The Columbia River treaty tribes have greeted the latest federal salmon
recovery plan with disdain, saying it ignores science and the federal
government's treaty responsibilities to the tribes.
Federal officials plan to release the final Columbia Basin salmon
restoration plan and biological opinion on the federal hydropower system
as required under the Endangered Species Act next week.
One of the major changes the region will see when the National Marine
Fisheries Service releases its final 2000 biological opinion governing
operations of the Columbia River federal hydro system is the exclusion
from the BiOp of Bureau of Reclamation dams in the upper Snake River
basin due to ongoing water adjudication.
Critical of both the science supporting draft federal salmon recovery
plans and the process used to produce it, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo has
asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to slow its timetable for
implementing the strategies.
Panels made up of regional scientists, researchers and representatives
of economic interests were asked last week to offer their views on the
federal salmon recovery planning "process, science basis and prospects
for success."
The setting was a Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on
Fisheries, Wildlife and Water hearing in Boise chaired by Idaho
Republican Sen. Mike Crapo.
The Bonneville Power Administration witnessed a changing of the guard
today (Nov. 17) with Administrator Judi Johansen leaving to become
executive vice president for government affairs and regulation at
PacifiCorp.
The two major party candidates for president have staked out sharply
differing positions on the environment, including specifically the proposal to tear down four dams on the lower Snake River to save salmon.
But Green Party standard-bearer Ralph Nader has drawn some environmental support away from Gore in the Northwest by taking a harder line against commercial logging and suggesting he would consider dam breaching ...
In response to President Clinton's veto, the Senate removed an
objectionable provision from the annual energy and water appropriations
bill and passed it on Thursday.
The measure includes $81 million for the Army Corps of Engineers
Columbia River fish mitigation program in FY2001, which began Oct 1.
That is an increase from $67.5 million provided last year.
Columbia Basin states, tribes and others have all pointed out what they
see as major flaws in two draft federal salmon recovery documents
designed to ensure survive of 12 salmon and steelhead species listed
under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Three days of hearings before two Senate subcommittees this week
provided the first public forum for a direct exchange of views on the
Clinton administration's salmon recovery plan between top federal
officials and their strongest critics in the Northwest congressional
delegation.
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and representatives of other Northwest
governors and the Northwest Power Council this week went to Washington,
D.C., to seek a greater role for states in salmon recovery.
They testified at a Senate hearing, and Kempthorne met with two Cabinet
members about the issue -- Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta and
Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt. Kempthorne was accompanied by Idaho
Attorney General Al Lance.
State and tribal fisheries scientists told Congress on Thursday that the
National Marine Fisheries Service failed to collaborate with them on its
draft biological opinion for endangered Columbia Basin salmon.
Testifying on the last of three days of Senate hearings on the Clinton
administration's salmon plan, four officials said collaboration ended in
late 1998 and early 1999 when NMFS abandoned the PATH process.
Maintaining water quality at federal dams is a requirement of the
federal Clean Water Act, not just an aspirational policy, according to a
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency letter sent this week to the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.
Funding and the need for coordination of federal and regional salmon
recovery efforts surfaced as key issues for Northwest governors
following cursory reviews of a just-released federal draft hydrosystem
biological opinion and companion conceptual recovery strategy.
A hatchery system "overhaul" and short-term habitat improvement actions
aimed at reaping quick salmon survival benefits are key to a Columbia
Basin salmon recovery strategy outlined in draft form Thursday by
federal officials.
The draft plan, which a top White House officials says will "clearly
cost hundreds of millions" more to implement than is currently being
spent on recovery efforts, does not include dam breaching ...
A Thursday morning session with a top Administration official produced
little satisfaction for Columbia Basin tribes who insist federal salmon
recovery plans miss a major mark by forestalling a decision to breach
four hydroelectric projects on the Lower Snake River.
"Today I was obliged to deliver the message to Mr. George Frampton,
representing the White House, that the federal decision not to breach
the lower Snake River dams is a purposeful and conscious decision to ...
A new biological opinion for the Columbia River Basin federal hydropower
system calls for increased flows to get more water into rivers, improved
spill and passage for juvenile salmon as they travel through the dams
and more work at the dams to improve fish passage.
It also addresses improved management of flow, spill and operations of
the Columbia River hydro system ...
Northwest members of Congress attacked, defended or expressed skepticism
about federal agencies' new Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
Washington state Republicans strongly criticized the Clinton
administration for leaving the door open to breaching the four lower
Snake River dams, while deferring a decision on that option for another
five to 10 years ...
The four Northwest governors revealed their strategy for salmon recovery
this week, which focuses on those areas where they agree and leaves dam
breaching to another forum.
By releasing the plan now, the governors say they hope to begin moving
the region toward recovery of salmon and steelhead listed under the
Endangered Species Act ...
The Clinton administration's announcement this week that it would not
seek to tear down Snake River dams to aid endangered salmon was
criticized by both environmental advocates and dam supporters.
National and Northwest environmentalists said the administration's
proposed non-breaching salmon recovery strategy could lead to
extinctions, while Republicans criticized it for leaving the door open
to possible future dam removal.
A decision by the Clinton Administration not to proceed with breaching
the four lower Snake River dams ignores scientific research that
supports a free-flowing river as the best way to restore dwindling
salmon runs, Donald Sampson, executive director of the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission said Thursday.
The planned release of the National Marine Fisheries Service's
biological opinion regarding federal hydrosystem impacts on listed
Columbia Basin salmon species has been pushed back from late June to
late July as federal agencies continue to wrangle over the final details
of the document.
The Army Corps of Engineers would receive $80 million for Columbia-Snake
river salmon mitigation next year, under a spending bill for federal
energy and water programs approved this week in the House Appropriations
Committee.
About 75,000 soon-to-be smolted Snake River fall chinook salmon treaded
hatchery water this past week while the agencies and tribes debated the
merits of using the little fish in proposed research aimed at gauging
survival.
Vice President Al Gore went to the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River
to make it official: President Clinton this morning designated 195,000
acres surrounding the 51-mile-long stretch a national monument.
By the May 12 deadline, the Northwest Power Planning Council had
received 55 submissions recommending amendments to the Council's
regional fish and wildlife management program, last revised in 1994.
Lawyers for fishing and conservation groups asked a federal judge on
Friday to order the Bureau of Reclamation to stop delivering irrigation
water to unauthorized farmland in the Northwest.
A meeting of Columbia Basin fish and wildlife recovery's analytical
minds was called this week to sort through the varied methods,
assumptions and conclusions now being produced that are intended to
eventually inform the region's decision makers.
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.
Breaching four Lower Snake River dams is not the answer for reviving
Columbia Basin salmon populations, a trio of Northwest lawmakers said
Tuesday at a Senate hearing at Bonneville Dam.
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.
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.
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.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber on Thursday met with Eastern Oregon
constituents for the first time since he publicly supported breaching
the four lower Snake River dams as a viable option for salmon recovery.
A panel of federal officials heard contrasting advice on how to run
Columbia Basin rivers, dams and fisheries at a hearing in Kalispell
Wednesday.
Despite his controversial stand in favor of breaching Snake River dams,
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber this week continued to work with fellow
Northwest governors and members of Congress on how best to restore
salmon.
A new report by a federal budget watchdog group and the National
Wildlife Federation identifies 25 Army Corps of Engineers projects that,
according to the organizations, waste $6 billion and harm the
environment.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on Thursday
proposed a new USDA Forest Service road management policy for the
380,000 miles of forest roads.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Under the Clinton administration's proposed budget for FY2001, spending
on Columbia River fish mitigation would increase by $33 million to $91
million.
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.
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.
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 Corps of Engineers judged that 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.
Politicians and business interests say the Corps of Engineers' John Day Dam recommendation makes perfect sense.
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.
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 region's four Hs -- hydro, harvest, habitat and
hatcheries