PNWA Nor'wester 332

Yesterday, Judge Redden sent a guidance letter to the parties in the FCRPS BiOp lawsuit. Judge Redden said he has serious reservations about the BiOp and lists six actions he urges the government to consider implementing as settlement discussions continue. The Judge's letter is surprising, given his March 6 statement in court that "We are very close." A copy of the letter is available here.

The Obama Administration is currently reviewing the BiOp. Ultimately, they will decide whether they support the BiOp, support it with modifications, or reject it in favor of starting over. They are doing so while plaintiffs and dam breach advocates continue their aggressive campaign urging the Administration to include dam breaching in a revised or new BiOp.

PNWA continues to support the BiOp. We urge the Administration to give it a thorough review and to engage all of the sovereigns in that review. It was the product of an unprecedented collaboration among the scientists and fish managers from the federal government, Northwest Tribes and the Northwest states. We believe the BiOp will stand up under rigorous scientific scrutiny. It provides more funding, more actions, more certainty and more cooperation for rebuilding fish runs than this region has ever seen. The BiOp, in concert with the historic Tribal and State Fish Accords that have been signed in the last year, address the key issues of funding and certainty that contributed to rulings against previous BiOps.

A subset of PNWA's membership, the Inland Ports & Navigation Group (IPNG) is an intervener in the lawsuit on the side of the defense. IPNG is working with its legal team to review the measures suggested in Judge Redden's guidance letter. PNWA's initial review of some of the key actions the Judge suggests on habitat, flow, drawdown and dam breaching is that the Fish Accords already provide an additional $110 million per year for ten years for tributary and estuary habitat improvement. The Accords will address tens of thousands of acres of riverfront. We do not believe the science supports the assertion that additional flows or reservoir drawdowns will provide additional biological benefit. In fact, drawdowns and dam breaching may do more harm than good.

PNWA and IPNG continue to work to resolve this lawsuit, get the parties out of the court room and shift the region's resources to providing on-the-ground improvements that will actually help the fish. We believe that strong Administration support for the BiOp will expedite that shift and benefit the fish.

PNWA staff contact: Glenn Vanselow