Portland, OR—The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon this week scrapped the federal government’s 2014 Columbia Basin salmon biological opinion (salmon plan or BiOp). Judge Michael Simon ruled that the latest plan—like each of its four predecessors—violates the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and additionally the National Environmental Policy Act.

The court sided with plaintiff fishing businesses, conservation groups, clean energy advocates, the State of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe in finding the latest federal plan for protecting endangered Snake and Columbia river salmon and steelhead fatally flawed. The Court rejected the BiOp, deeming it incomplete and illegal on several grounds. (Full court ruling, here.)

–It rejected the plan’s foundational “trending towards recovery” legal framework that allowed the agencies to conclude that the plan was working “with very little actual improvement in fish abundance”;

–It rejected the plan’s heavy reliance on uncertain and speculative habitat mitigation measures to make up for the harm caused by the dams;

–It found the government failed to adequately assess the “potentially catastrophic impact” of climate change on the basin’s salmon and steelhead populations;

–It found that the agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider alternatives to the current narrow approaches that have “already costs billions of dollars, yet they are failing” and;

–It ordered a new biological opinion and full NEPA analysis that complies with the law no later than March 1, 2018.

“Northwest residents and national taxpayers should welcome an honest review of what it will take to restore Columbia and Snake river salmon and steelhead to abundance while enhancing the region’s energy supply and agricultural economy,” said Amy Kober, of American Rivers. “That means thinking big about how to accomplish these goals—not clinging to a status quo that’s not working for Columbia and Snake River salmon and all the different communities that rely on these rivers.”

Read More

Tom Bie
+ posts

Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.

Category: Daily Drake
Tags: 

Author: Tom Bie

Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post comment