Salmon Plan Approved Allowing More Water Over Columbia River Dams
Listen
A federal judge has approved a plan to spill more water through dams in the Columbia River Basin this spring.
It’s part of an ongoing lawsuit over how to manage dams to protect threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.
Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon ordered dam managers to develop a plan to spill more water on the Columbia and Snake rivers to help fish.
Spilling more water means generating less power, which could raise the price of electricity.
EarthJustice attorney Todd True represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including conservation groups, the state of Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe. He says spilling more water will help move baby salmon downriver toward the ocean while avoiding dangerous turbines.
“It’s something we can do immediately that will help salmon that are on the brink of extinction,” he said. “The federal agencies have refused to provide spill at this level in the past so the court has ordered them to do that.”
The court ordered as much spill as the law allows. State laws set limits on how much water can be spilled over dams before the gases produced in the process may become harmful to fish.
Dam managers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers submitted their new spill plan to the court last month. They will start spilling more water through dams in April.
Copyright 2018 Earthfix
Related Stories:
Fish hatchery transferred to Yakama Nation, upgrades underway
Yakama Nation tribal members fish in the Klickitat River for fall chinook salmon. The Yakama Nation recently gained ownership of a fish hatchery on the river. (Credit: USFWS – Pacific
‘It just tastes like time’: Salmon are a sacred relative to the Nisqually tribe and Native Americans across the Northwest
Freshly caught chum salmon display their greens and pink colors like the aurora, in December on the Nisqually River. (Courtesy: Willie Frank III) Listen (Runtime 3:54) Read On a tall
Billy’s magic: Tribal leader’s fierce fight for fishing rights to be honored with a statue in Washington, D.C.
Nisqually tribal fisher Willie Frank III holds a freshly caught chinook, or king, salmon at the Nisqually River where his family has fished for generations. The chinook being caught are
