[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
NFC: Fw: [currents] RiverCurrents Online -- Week of January 21, 2000
River News for the Week of January 21, 2000
NW SALMON: The administration’s delay in putting together a study to
determine “how it can sell dam breaching to communities that rely on
hydro-power for jobs, water and electricity” is irritating
environmentalists, who see the study as vital for winning the Lower Snake
River dam removal fight. The government committed to completing such a
study
a month ago, but still has not set a deadline for the project. As reports
the Idaho Statesman (1/15), “some worry that if the administration does
not
complete the study by May - the deadline for a federal recommendation on
how
to save the fish - their cause will be undermined.” Among options to save
the salmon, the administration is considering dam breaching. Other
options
include modifying the dams to help salmon navigate the structures or
increasing barging and trucking of the fish around the dams. The high
costs
of dam removal (about $1 billion, in addition to $24 million in lost
barge
transport, $15 million a year in new irrigation expenses for farmers, and
higher electric bills for residential customers) have some
environmentalists
concerned that the administration is attempting to put off the decision
until after the 2000 elections.
In a related story, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has endorsed Democrat Bill
Bradley over Al Gore this week, and “accused the Clinton-Gore
administration
of having ‘taken a hike’ on restoring Northwest salmon runs,” reports the
Oregonian (1/20). Kitzhaber says that the administration’s delay in
making
any decision on whether to breach the Lower Snake River dams will ensure
salmon extinction, and that the administration is putting politics over
policy. The federal government is scheduled in May to recommend whether
to
breach the dams, but Kitzhaber feels that the government will again ask
for
more time as May approaches. According to the governor, Bradley promised
to
him in a personal conversation that he “would keep all options on the
table -- including dam removal -- and act quickly on salmon recovery.”
* * *
COLUMBIA RIVER DREDGING: A coalition of environmentalists and taxpayers
have
asked the federal government to drop a plan to deepen the Columbia River,
saying it would save taxpayers about $200 million in dredging and
maintenance costs, reports the Oregonian (1/21). One of 77 federal
projects
the group Green Scissors recommended be dropped, the dredging would be
wasteful and environmentally harmful, says the group. The plan would
deepen
the Columbia River shipping channel by three feet from the Pacific Ocean
to
Portland and Vancouver, Wash., which would allow for larger cargo ships
to
travel inland. It would also damage the riverbed, water quality and the
areas where the dredged material would be dumped, says Green Scissors.
Congress authorized the project last year, but has not yet appropriated
its
$180 million price tag.
* * *
LOGGING: Environmentalists are claiming that new logging rules proposed
to
protect salmon in the Northwest are a “give-away” to the timber industry.
As
reports the AP (1/20), the state Forest Practices Board is meeting this
week
to determine whether to proceed with the rules approved last year by the
legislature that would “soften the impact of logging, road building and
other forest operations on endangered species habitat” in exchange for
tax
breaks. The Washington Environmental Council says the rules, which were
drafted by the Timber, Fish and Wildlife committee, don't go far enough
to
ensure the long-term safety of salmon and other species affected by
logging.
According to the AP, “the new rules would impose 50 years of tougher
restrictions on timber harvests near streams and on steep slopes, costing
the industry an estimated $2 billion.” In exchange, the timber industry
would receive timber-excise tax credits worth around $1 billion and
assurances that the state will stick to the same standards for 50 years.
* * *
MISSOURI RIVER: Last week the Army Corps of Engineers released a new plan
to
control flow of the Missouri River from Montana to its mouth near St.
Louis,
reports the Kansas City Star (1/15). The plan would “maintain enough
water
during times of drought to keep barges afloat on the lower Missouri – but
not for the duration that Missouri officials or the barge industry had
sought. It also does not allow summertime flows to dwindle along the
lower
river, which means the navigation season would not be split and natural
flows are not restored. In other words, “this plan does nothing
substantive
for endangered species,” says Chad Smith of American Rivers. Spawning
fish
depend on natural flows as a reproductive cue, and sandbars produced by
natural flows serve as vital nesting grounds for shorebirds, particularly
the least tern and piping plover. Farmers worry a spring rise would
threaten
crops with flooding. American Rivers and the Environmental Defense Fund
have
threatened to sue if the corps doesn't restore the river's flows to more
natural rates.
* * *
SAVANNAH RIVER TEST: Officials with the US Corps of Engineers this week
began lowering the mighty Savannah River to levels unseen in more than
six
decades as part of a five-day experiment. As reports the Florida
Times-Union
(1/19), “the catalyst for the test is the 63-year-old New Savannah Bluff
Lock and Dam 13 miles downstream from Augusta, which the corps wants to
close.” The dam needs an additional $7 million in repairs, in addition to
the $6 million already spent since 1986. Since the structure no longer
serves commercial shipping, the corps does not want to finance the upkeep
and has recommended closing the dam and removing its spillway gates. The
tests this week have been devised to determine just how far the water
will
drop if and when the dam is decommissioned. Residents, industries, and
homeowners oppose the plan, which will drop the river 5-11 feet. As
reports
the Times-Union, the city “has sculpted its downtown revitalization
efforts
around the river.”
* * *
AMERICA’S WETLANDS: Vice President Gore announced this week that the
Administration will propose $30 million “to protect and restore wetlands
through voluntary partnerships with state and local governments, farmers
and
other private landowners, Indian tribes and non-profit conservation
groups.”
As reports a White House Press Release (1/19), the FY2001 budget will
request a $15 million increase for the North American Wetlands
Conservation
Fund, which would leverage a minimum of an additional $30 million in
non-federal funds for a total of at least $60 million through a
one-to-one
matching requirement.
* * *
MTBE: The American Water Works Association this week called on President
Clinton to take immediate action to remove the gasoline additive MTBE or
methyl tertiary butyl ether from groundwater, especially from sources in
Las
Vegas and Reno, Nevada. As reports the Las Vegas Sun (1/18), “what was
once
touted as the answer to clearing the nation's air of pollution caused by
vehicle exhaust has become a potential health threat to people.” MTBE has
been shown to cause liver and kidney tumors in mice. The chemical is
added
to gasoline to increase the efficiency with which fuel burns in engines,
but
the additive has seeped into drinking water wells and other sources from
underground fuel tanks in a number of communities around the country.
* * *
SOUTH PLATTE RIVER: People have been warned to avoid the South Platte
River
this week due to a weekend sewage spill requiring officials to test for
fecal contamination. The warning applies to a section of the river
between
West Alameda Avenue in Denver, Colorado downstream to Fort Lupton after a
resident reported seeing water gushing out of a sewer manhole. The spill
was
contained the same day.
* * *
GE AND PCBs: GE has announced plans to dredge a PCB-contaminated pond
“despite company claims that dredging is an unsuitable cleanup method for
the Hudson River,” reports the Albany Times Union (1/20). Back in the
1950’
s, Queensbury Oil was put in Bay Road Pond to control weeds, though the
source of the oil and who applied it is unknown. The pond is classified
as a
federal wetland and is considered a community gathering place. GE will
temporarily divert the pond into a stream to ensure that PCBs do not
escape
into the water where they could be consumed by wildlife during dredging,
similar to the strategy employed to remove PCB-contaminated sediments
along
a half- mile stretch of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield, Mass. GE
still
maintains that dredging the Hudson River makes no sense.
* * *
ANIMAS-LA PLATE PROJECT: Though critics continue to oppose plans for the
Animas-La Plata water project near Durango, Colo, supporters are pleased
with the Clinton administration's newest version which calls for a
217-foot
dam that would flood 1,500 acres just outside Durango. As reports the
Albuquerque Journal (1/20), the project is designed to “supply water to
two
Colorado tribes and the New Mexico cities of Aztec, Bloomfield and
Farmington, along with the Navajo Nation and other rural water users in
New
Mexico.” Providing about 120,000 acre-feet of water, the reservoir of the
new plan would contain less than half the capacity of the originally
planned
reservoir. The new plan would cost an estimated $290 million, and
provides
no irrigation that would have opened up new land for farming (as the
initial
plan did). However, environmentalists still oppose either building a new
dam
or removing water from the Animas to satisfy tribes’ water rights.
Instead,
they would like to see the tribes receive money and water that is already
behind Colorado reservoirs to satisfy their rights.
* * *
CLEARWATER RIVER ANGLING: Anglers in the Clearwater River in Idaho are
being
warned of fluctuating river levels from the Dworshak Reservoir that will
affect their fishing due to Corps of Engineers preparations for potential
flooding this spring. The Corps is dropping the reservoir level by 9 feet
through a method called “power-peaking” whereby more water will be
released
during the day, when power demands are heavy, and less by night to match
the
region's power needs. The corps will try to be “angler-friendly during
the
weekends,” reports the Idaho Statesman (1/19). Anglers complain about
this
practice since fish often move from choice holding spots to find the best
river velocity when river levels fluctuate, and tend not to bite as often
after flows change.
* * *
WILD STEELHEAD MANDATORY RELEASE: Believing that the harvestable number
of
wild steelhead has been taken for this season, the Department of Fish and
Wildlife has announced that anglers must release wild steelhead caught in
12
of Washington's rivers and streams in the Snohomish and Stillaguamish
river
systems in Washington State through February or March. After February
29th,
the water will either close or go to total catch-and-release, reports the
News Tribune Tacoma (1/20).
==================
Interested in Legislative Policy Updates? Email Suzy McDowell at
smcdowell at amrivers_org with your name, address with nine-digit zip code,
and
email to be placed on the weekly river policy update listserve.
American Rivers is also involved in a campaign to reform operations by
the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore habitat for river wildlife and
reduce future flood losses. To receive periodic updates on this activity,
email Suzy McDowell at smcdowell at amrivers_org with your name, address
with
nine-digit zip code, and email address.
==================
For more news, visit American Rivers at www.amrivers.org