Photo Credit: EarthJustice
The Sierra Club, together with nine other NGOs, are plaintiffs represented by Earthjustice and have challenged the inadequate, illegal, and failed salmon "recovery" plans developed by the federal agencies (Bonneville Power Administration, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation). Other plaintiffs are the Nez Perce Tribe and the State of Oregon. The courts have ruled five times against the federal agencies, rejecting their status quo salmon plans. We again challenged the Trump administration salmon plan (Biological Opinion) that was issued in September 2020. The plaintiffs reached agreement with the Biden Administration to pause the litigation and work to develop a comprehensive plan for the Columbia Basin, meet treaty rights for the Tribes and recover Snake River salmon.
As part of the litigation pause, the Administration made a set of commitments with the overarching one being: "The Biden Administration is committed to supporting development of a durable long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power and meeting the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region. The Administration recognizes that business as usual will not achieve the goals of restoring salmon populations and ecosystem functions...".
The litigation pause will lapse on August 31. By that time, either the negotiations with the Administration will have taken a significant step forward and the pause might be further extended, or the stay expires and litigation will resume. We are cautiously optimistic that the Administration is moving in the right direction. In the early spring the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service held two public listening sessions. The pro-salmon/pro-breach the dams speakers outnumbered the pro-dam forces 85-18. These sessions were intended to provide people and stakeholders who are not part of the confidential litigation discussion taking place under the current pause in the court case an opportunity to provide their views. All indications are that the Biden Administration team is working to gel a proposal for a comprehensive salmon recovery plan for the Columbia Basin.
As the Biden Administration is in the final stages of determining their recommendations for a comprehensive plan to protect and restore salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin, CEQ initiated a Request for Information in the Federal Register. Below is a link to make comments directly to CEQ and the other federal agencies involved in this process. Your personal comments are critically important during this timeframe.
We hope you will join many others from across the country to tell the Biden administration that removing the four lower Snake River dams—and replacing the services they provide—must be a part of a comprehensive solution that:
- Restores abundant, harvestable salmon and steelhead populations across the Northwest
- Restores a free-flowing lower Snake River by removing its four aging, costly dams
- Upholds treaty responsibilities and commitments to Tribal Nations
- Supports healthy, thriving populations of Southern Resident orcas
- Invests in a sustainable, equitable, and prosperous future
- Acts with the urgency needed to stop salmon extinction
Please take action now and remember to personalize your comment by explaining why this issue matters to you. Thank you.
Irene Vlach
Oregon Chapter Liaison to the Columbia/Snake River Salmon Campaign