The dams are illegal!!!!! Fantastic Ruling!!

[Ithaca 37]

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Jame Redden's decision that called a federal plan for dam operations on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers illegal under the Endangered Species Act.
The court ruled that the plan, called a biological opinion, did not adequately protect endangered salmon and steelhead that migrate through the dams between spawning streams in Idaho, Washington and Oregon and the Pacific Ocean. Federal dam and fisheries managers are rewriting a plan attempting to satisfy Redden's 2005 order.

If they don't satisfy Redden, he could order a series of limitations on hydroelectric dams aimed at saving salmon that could exceed the cost of breaching four dams on the lower Snake River, the most likely way of saving the fish. the Bush Administration has ruled out dam removal.

Writing that “ESA compliance is not optional,” Judge Sidney R. Thomas noted for the Court that "agencies may not disregard their ESA duties… Rather, they have an affirmative duty to satisfy the ESA's requirements, as a first priority."

The Bush Administration could appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Attorneys representing the broad-base coalition of fishing business and conservation groups applauded the Court’s ruling to affirm the lower court’s decision.

“This decision should compel the federal agencies to finally produce an analysis that looks at all recovery options – including removing the four lower Snake River dams, and develop a solution that works for people and fish,” said Steve Mashuda of Earthjustice, an attorney for the coalition.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/235/story/78863.html

 

[Ithaca 37]

Our View: We need more answers to help salmon
- Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 04/10/07


Facing up to one inconvenient truth — the extinction risk facing Idaho's wild salmon — requires addressing a second inconvenient truth.
Global warming could affect our salmon and their habitat, in ways we don't understand.

A study published last week by the National Academy of Sciences suggests scientists need to explore the connection between climate change and the region's multibillion-dollar salmon recovery efforts. It provides further proof that Congress needs to give federal experts the task of getting the best available information.

Here's the grim summary of the study, authored by researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington. Plans for restoring watersheds rarely account for future climate change. These changes in climate could have a "large negative impact" on salmon freshwater habitat. Habitat restoration and protection efforts can mitigate the effects and even produce increased salmon numbers, but overall, global warming will "make salmon recovery targets much more difficult to attain."

Here's the kicker that could have the greatest effect on Idaho's wild chinook and sockeye salmon, which return to mountain rivers to spawn. Climate change could damage pristine, high-altitude river habitat. These rivers could be most susceptible to sudden rainstorms, which could swell the streamflow and flush away salmon eggs.

This scenario only adds to the recipe of global warming risks. When young salmon leave their spawning areas, triggered by increased river temperatures, they may struggle to find food and may be more vulnerable to predators and disease. A warmer Pacific Ocean is also a less-than-ideal habitat for salmon that must survive at sea for several years before spawning in Idaho.

Doomsday stuff? We don't think so, and we're not alone. Don Chapman of McCall, one of the Northwest's leading experts on salmon, reversed his position on dam removal two years ago, citing the perils of global warming. He now favors breaching four lower Snake River dams to help Idaho's young salmon reach the Pacific.

Advocating for salmon means acknowledging that we don't fully understand the risks facing them. We support a bill, presented in Congress last month, that would require Congress' General Accounting Office to study dam breaching and its effects on Northwest industries, while the Academy of Sciences studies current salmon recovery efforts. We know Idaho's salmon numbers remain low, after 15 years of protection under the Endangered Species Act, but we need more answers about the cause and the best path to recovery.

(Obviously, courts want answers as well. An appeals court Monday upheld a federal judge who rejected the current plan for federal dam operations. The Bush administration could appeal — to the same U.S. Supreme Court that slammed the administration on global warming just last week.)

The NOAA-University of Washington study is limited in focus, covering only chinook salmon in Washington state's Snohomish River basin. But as NOAA fisheries scientist and study co-author Mary Ruckelshaus told the Associated Press last week, changes in river conditions "are not going to be good for any (salmon) species."

For the sake of Idaho salmon, this theory needs to be tested. It's time for Idaho's congressional delegation to demand answers.


http://www.idahostatesman.com/126/story/78889.html

 

[Ithaca 37]

Appeals court: Federal dam plan is illegal
Salmon advocates say ruling should force agencies to consider removing lower Snake River dams
By Rocky Barker - Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 04/10/07


The Bush administration will have to go to the Supreme Court if it hopes to continue its strategy for saving endangered salmon and dams in the Columbia and Snake rivers.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld Judge James Redden's 2005 decision that called a federal plan — known as a biological opinion — for dam operations on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers illegal. It rejected the administration's assertion that the Endangered Species Act requires officials to evaluate only the effects on salmon of dam operations — not the dams themselves.

"At its core, the 2004 BiOp amounted to little more than an analytical sleight of hand," Judge Sidney R. Thomas wrote for the court. "Statistically speaking, using the 2004 BiOp's analytical framework, the dead fish were really alive.

"The ESA requires a more realistic, common-sense examination."

The appeals court also rejected the administration's challenge to Redden's order that federal agencies collaborate with the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, and Indian tribes as they write a new plan.

Despite the administration's legal strategy, federal fisheries officials and dam managers are meeting regularly with the states and the tribes as they attempt to complete a new biological opinion later this year.

Salmon advocates who brought the lawsuit, including environmental groups, Indian tribes, the state of Oregon and fishermen, are skeptical any plan can meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act for the four salmon and steelhead species that spawn and rear in Idaho's rivers without removing some of the eight dams that hinder downstream migration.

"This decision should compel the federal agencies to finally produce an analysis that looks at all recovery options — including removing the four lower Snake River dams — and develop a solution that works for people and fish," said Steve Mashuda, of Earthjustice, a lawyer for the coalition.

The current collaborative talks include discussions about drawing down at least one Columbia River dam to its minimum operating pool to aid salmon migration as an alternative to removing four dams on the Snake River in Washington.

The U.S. Justice Department did not return calls for comment by the Statesman deadline. The National Marine Fisheries Service was still analyzing the opinion and could not comment, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman in Seattle.

Idaho is the only other party to the case that might consider appealing it to the Supreme Court. David Hensley, counsel to Gov. Butch Otter, would not rule out an appeal.

"We're exploring all our legal options," he said. "We're going continue to be at the table with our partners in the federal government, the other states and the tribes in the development of the next biological opinion to make sure Idaho's needs are protected in that process."

The court also called flawed the Bush administration's standards that said Endangered Species Act protection does not need to meet goals that would recover salmon, but must only keep their numbers stable.

"Under this approach, a listed species could be gradually destroyed, so long as each step on the path to destruction is sufficiently modest," Thomas wrote for the court. "This type of slow slide into oblivion is one of the very ills the ESA seeks to prevent."

http://www.idahostatesman.com/102/story/78907.html

 

[cjcj]

Deport them!

Good luck with the removal... powerfull forces [ $$$$$] are sure to get in the way.

But if you want to make some noise.. via letters/e`mail or phone calls tell us who to "contact" for maximum benefit.