PR 58 05
THE FOUR FEDERAL AGENCIES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TUESDAY, June 21, 2005
Contact:
See below
Agencies disappointed in court decision
to continue with experimental spill
PORTLAND, Ore. -
CONTACT: Brian Gorman, NOAA Fisheries (206) 526-6613
Mike Hansen, BPA (503) 230-5131
Diana Cross, USBR (208) 378-5020
Adele Merchant, Corps (503) 808-3722
The operators of the Federal Columbia River Power System today expressed deep disappointment over a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco to deny a stay, which would have temporarily halted the additional spill called for by an earlier U.S. District Court decision. They said they still hoped to convince the Ninth Circuit to uphold the original operating plans for the dams.
Pending appeal of the June 10 district court decision, the stay would have temporarily allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to return to proven, longstanding summer river operations, which have been based on years of research and careful management of out-migrating juvenile salmon, said federal officials responsible for the operations at the dams.
"This decision allows the injunction that was granted by the District Court to continue while we move forward with our appeal," said Bob Lohn, Northwest regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries. "Our primary concern is that the injunction, which began yesterday, significantly reduces the number of fish transported in barges, leaving a large proportion to migrate under the adverse in-river conditions in this low water year.
"We are concerned about the prudence of wagering salmon recovery on an experiment instead of relying on proven measures," added Lohn.
Under a ruling issued June 10 in Portland, water would be spilled through August at McNary Dam on the Columbia River and at Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite Dams on the Snake River. Under the current biological plan, there would be no spill at those dams and juvenile fish would be gathered at collection facilities and transported downstream.
The Bonneville Power Administration has estimated that the additional spill this summer will cost the region's ratepayers in the range of $57 million to $81 million, or approximately a million dollars a day. In the worst-case scenario, this could raise BPA's wholesale power rates to its preference customers 4 to 5 percent, all other things being equal.
Over the last several years, NOAA Fisheries and other federal agencies have invested significant resources to improve conditions for salmon in the Columbia Basin, including restoration of thousands of miles of in-river and estuary habitat, controlling fish-eating predators and improving management of hatcheries. In addition, earlier this year NOAA Fisheries released a locally-driven recovery plan for three out of the 12 ESA-listed salmon runs for a significant area of Washington state and expects to receive similar plans for the remaining nine stocks, as well as other areas of the Pacific Northwest, including the Puget Sound chinook and Oregon Coast coho.
Submitted for distribution on 06-21-2005 at 5:06 PM
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