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Judge orders changes to Columbia and Snake river dam operations to help ‘disappearing’ salmon
The judge's order maintains most 2025 dam operations while slightly increasing spill to aid salmon migration amid ongoing decades-long legal efforts.
- On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in Portland ordered narrow changes to operations of eight Columbia and Snake River dams to help salmon, keeping most 2025 spill and reservoir levels while allowing modest increases and calling the order narrowly tailored.
- Revived last fall, the litigation followed the Trump administration last year abandoning the 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, with the state of Oregon, National Wildlife Federation, Washington state, Nez Perce Tribe and Yakama Nation involved.
- Dams force juvenile salmon through turbines and slow migration, as fish now face weeks-long journeys across 325 miles and eight dams through warm reservoirs and turbines.
- Tribes say the changes address threats to salmon as a `First Food`, aiming to prevent extinction that endangers cultural lifeways, while Southern resident orcas and fisheries depend on Chinook; Lewiston, Idaho farmers and utility customers may face commerce and rate impacts.
- NOAA scientists found in 2022 that dam removal must be part of solutions as nearly all remaining salmon populations stay below minimum thresholds with a poor prognosis, and four extinct stocks remain.
51 Articles
51 Articles
Judge orders changes to Pacific Northwest dam operations to help salmon
A federal judge this week granted a partial win to conservation groups after the Trump administration pulled out of a salmon restoration agreement last year. Obama-appointed Judge Michael J. Simon issued a preliminary injunction ordering the federal government to take certain actions requested by the groups but did not grant them all of the changes…
Federal ruling on Columbia River dams could impact Montana electric utilities
A federal judge in Oregon has ordered operational changes at dams along the Columbia River system, in order to support endangered fish populations. Its a decision thats drawing strong reactions in Montana.Environmental groups and the federal government have been embroiled in a decades-long lawsuit over the impact Columbia River dams have on salmon and steelhead. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon issued a preliminary injunction, req…
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