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River News for the Week of February 23, 2001
SNAKE RIVER DAMS: The four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River violate the Clean Water Act, according to a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Helen J. Frye. The dams warm the water, threatening the health of the fish, says the ruling, which resulted from a lawsuit brought by the Nez Perce Tribe, the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, American Rivers and five other groups. According to the National Wildlife Federation, when creating reservoirs, "dams slow water velocity and increase a river's cross section, exposing more water to heat from the sun for longer periods of time." The ruling has enormous implications, reports the Oregonian (02/17/01), because it shows that the US Corps of Engineers must meet federal environmental laws even when electricity is in short supply. The corps now has 60 days to come up with a new operating plan that would cool river temperatures for the benefit of salmon. The dams under question, which generate an average of 1,200 megawatts of electricity, are the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. That amount is about 4 percent of all power produced in the Northwest. Conservationists say the ruling shows that the dams will eventually be breached, reports the Oregonian. The Corps argues that the dams are not the only cause of warm water temperatures, and that it is attempting to operate the facilities in a way that minimizes environmental harm.
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DEFINE "FISH": According to a proposed federal policy that defines when federal natural resource agencies may mandate fish passage measures at hydropower projects, a fishway includes passage of all forms of freshwater, estuarine, and marine animal life other than mammals and birds. The policy was published in the Federal Register at the close of the Clinton Administration, and is of concern to the National Hydropower Association which says that policy could potentially include frogs, snails, snakes, sponges, aquatic insects and anything else that lives in the water. The association is worried that "the proposal would give government agents broad new latitude in determining the operations, future plans, and ultimately the economic viability of hydroelectric projects, not only by expanding the definition of a fish, but also the definition of a 'fishway' beyond the legal meaning established in the Energy Policy Act of 1992." A press release by the association (02/20/01) says that the trade group will seek the immediate rescission of the policy, claiming that the potential impact on generation capacity and the cost of electricity could be staggering.
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KENNEBEC RIVER: Paul Christman of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission says he has identified five sites on the Kennebec River in Maine and in Messalonskee Stream where adult female Salmon built nests containing fertilized eggs in shallow water called "redds" where they will lay their eggs. Christman is reasonably certain that the nests belong to Atlantic salmon. As reports the Kennebec Journal (02/20/01), this discovery is another sign of fisheries restoration in the aftermath of the Edwards Dam removal. The 917-foot-wide dam was removed in 1999, allowing the river to flow freely from Waterville to the sea for the first time in 162 years. Before the dam was removed, Atlantic salmon spawned every year below the structure, including within Bond Brook and Togus Stream, which empty into the Kennebec River. Alewives have also returned to the river since removal of the dam.
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MISSOURI RIVER: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is about to decide whether to formally list the sturgeon chub and the sicklefin chub as threatened or endangered under federal law. Some are watching the decision as a test of the new administration's attitude toward endangered wildlife, reports the St. Louis Post Dispatch (02/20/01). The two fish are tiny minnows of no more than three inches long that prefer the muddiest river water they can find. They have no commercial value, and now exist in small populations in just 20-25 percent of their historical range, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Montana Rivers Coalition is pushing for the decision by the government, saying that society has a moral obligation to prevent all species from becoming extinct. Three other species on the Missouri River, the pallid sturgeon, the piping plover, and the least tern, are also listed as endangered or threatened. In a settlement with the Coalition, the federal agency has agreed to make a decision by April 12. The settlement came a month before the agency said it would add no more wildlife to the endangered species list for nearly a year because of budget problems. However, the moratorium on species listing does not apply to the chubs, or other species that were the subject of court-ordered decisions.
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WASHINGTON WATERS: A drought in Washington state is threatening both hydropower and salmon. As reports Reuters (02/21/01), the spring like weather Washington has been enjoying is shrinking Washington water supplies, forcing the state to make difficult choices between feeding hydropower plants and saving endangered salmon. The office of Governor Gary Locke has reported that "persistently sunny skies have shrunken rivers, reservoirs and snowpacks to dangerously low levels," prompting state officials to begin the preparation of a drought declaration possibly as soon as mid-March. According to Reuters, area snowpack in the state is down almost 50 percent from normal and reservoirs are down 70 percent from typical winter levels. In the Columbia River Basin, water supply stands at 59 percent of normal. Unfortunately, the drought is occurring just as the power deregulation scheme in California is draining regional power supplies and boosting electricity prices by as much as 80 percent. Governor Locke met this week with officials from around the state and the federal government's regional hydropower authority, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), to assess the crisis and prepare to ration water if rains don't come soon.
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UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER: This week NBC Nightly News aired a "Fleecing of America" segment about the Upper Mississippi River Navigation Study, featuring senior Corps economist Don Sweeney. Sweeney filed a whistleblower last February alleging that Corps economists were ordered to cook the books to justify the $1.2 billion lock expansion project. The complaint resulted in numerous investigations, including an investigation by the Office of Special Counsel and the Army's Inspector General that substantiated many of Sweeney's claims. The National Academy of Sciences is completing review of the Corps' economic and environmental analysis as well. The NAS report is expected to be released this Monday, February 26, 2001.
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STEELHEAD: Steelhead in the Klamath Mountains of Southern Oregon and Northern California have been proposed for listing as threatened by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which oversees the protection of salmon and steelhead. Oregon officials oppose the proposed listing, saying that runs of the fish are healthy and abundant on the Oregon side of the border. Computer modeling, says the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, shows that Southern Oregon streams each year have 69,000 to 83,000 steelhead, which is close to historical numbers. As reports the AP (02/21/01), federal biologists say that a lack of information about runs in California compelled them to propose protection under the Endangered Species Act. If the fish are listed, some restrictions would probably be placed on sportfishing for steelhead, though its unlikely that fishing would be shut down completely in the area known as the Klamath Mountains Province. A decision on listing is expected by March 31.
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NW SALMON: Harvests for salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Washington and Oregon will be based on annual abundance rather than a fixed number due to an agreement by the two states. As reports Greenwire (02/22/01), the agreement will likely be the basis for a Columbia River fisheries management plan to be completed in December. A sliding scale will be used for harvests based on predicted returns, in the hopes of protecting wild stocks while allowing fishers to maximize their catch. Goal of the agreement is to rebuild fish runs on the Columbia to 5 million fish within 25 years. Currently, wild salmon in the river number about 200,000, which is only about 2 percent of the historic run size.
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ATLANTIC SALMON: The conservation groups Atlantic Salmon Federation, Trout Unlimited, and Conservation Law Foundation called for a moratorium on new fish farms and an overhaul of the entire regulation system after it was revealed that more than 100,000 farm raised salmon escaped into the wild last December. The groups fear that the farm-raised salmon might mate with wild salmon in Maine, severely weakening future generations of wild salmon in Maine rivers. As reports the Boston Globe (02/23/01), although the accident occurred in December, federal officials only learned of it this month because an official there "didn't tell the federal government until this month because, he said, he first wanted to get more information and then it slipped his mind." Farm-raised salmon are not bred with the hardiness that wild salmon must have to survive. Wild salmon in eight Maine rivers were listed as endangered last November, in part because of the concern about the impact of the aquaculture industry in eastern Maine says the Globe. The fish escaped from the Atlantic Salmon of Maine farm, which said that the "accident could have been prevented if the federal government had allowed them to build the stronger, more weather-resistant cages they asked for last year." However, the Army Corps of Engineers turned down the request, with concerns that the construction would disturb the nest of a rare eagle on a nearby island.
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COLUMBIA RIVER: This week 12 bishops from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia released their pastoral letter, a teaching document, called: "The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good." The 18-page letter, including a poetic reflection called "Riversong," urges people to work together for spiritual, social and ecological transformation in the 259,000-square-mile watershed, reports the Columbian (02/22/01). Among other things the letter says that "We hope that we might work together to develop and implement an integrated spiritual, social and ecological vision for our watershed home, a vision that promotes justice for people and stewardship of creation," and that "We call for a thorough, humble and introspective evaluation that seeks to eliminate both economic greed that fails to respect the environment, and ecological elitism that lacks a proper regard for the legitimate rights and property of others." The letter can be accessed at www.columbiariver.org.
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