Columbia River Agreement Hits a Snag

By Autumn Lovell on March 10, 2010 From Restoration campaign

Earlier this year TENTHMIL brought you a story about the efforts to restore the Columbia River and Chinook estuary system. There’s been litigation on this topic for a decade and a half, and the last few months have been busy. Lets look at what’s been going on.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently reviewing the revised plan for the river and surrounding estuaries, after U.S. District Judge James Redden ruled that the current plan won’t truly address the crashing salmon population, and that it’s going to take tougher conservation measures to ensure their survival. The revised plan was originally submitted in September, in an effort to push the fifteen year lawsuit forward and get some action on the Columbia river. As Jane Lubchenco, Administrator of NOAA stated at that time, “We believe the time has come to move out of the courtroom and get to work recovering salmon and preserving the region’s unique way of life.”

But Judge Redden issued a public statement last month that the agreement was not likely to meet the standards of the Endangered Species Act, and he asked NOAA to withdraw their proposal and redo it.

“Federal defendants have spent the better part of the last decade treading water and avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act.” - Judge James A. Redden

Oregon’s Attorney General John Kroger is one of the outspoken critics of the current plan, along with the Nez Perce Tribe, the National Wildlife Federation  and Save Our Wild Salmon. One of the primary concerns is that dam removal is not included, but is instead looked at as a “last resort”.  Eight dams block the salmon run and contribute to the major decline the salmon have seen over the past decades. A number of groups have been lobbying for their removal, and were beyond disappointed when that wasn’t included in the revised plan.

“The administration’s passing reference to dam breaching as a ‘contingency of last resort’ defers all necessary economic, infrastructure and other studies making this ‘contingency’ an illusion.”  Samuel N. Penny, Chairman of the Nez Perce American Indian Tribe

On February 19th NOAA withdrew the plan; they now have three months to fix and resubmit it.

The Columbia Basin system was one of the three most productive salmon rivers on the US West Coast, but fish populations have been suffering in recent years. Activist Nicole Cordan from Save Our Wild Salmon recently said:

“The ball is in their court now to see if they really want to fix the problems and bring people together or simply continue to paper over the issues.”

This review of the Columbia River ecosystem restoration plan is seen by many as our last chance to get this right. Opponents are ready to see the current administration follow through on environmental promises, and as Oregon Attorney General John Kroger recently wrote, “It is a great disappointment to watch the new administration break its vow to restore science to it’s rightful place in the decision-making process.”

 

This was Columbia River Agreement Hits a Snag, an entry in our Restoration Campaign from March 10, 2010. It was filed under Rivers

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