REDDEN ORDERS PLAN COORDINATING UPPER SNAKE, FCRPS BIOPS Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 (PST)

U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden this week gave legal adversaries two weeks to develop a schedule and plan for reworking a biological opinion on federal irrigation projects in the upper Snake River basin that is "coordinated" with an ongoing remand of a BiOp on lower Snake and Columbia river hydro projects. Read More...

BPA GIVES COURT DETAILS ON FUNDING MECHANISMS FOR ESA COSTS Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 (PST)

The Bonneville Power Administration will have the tools to raise power rates in dire times, if need be, to meet Endangered Species Act costs stemming from ongoing litigation in federal court, according to a report filed earlier this month. Read More...

APPEALS COURT AFFIRMS COLUMBIA RIVER CHANNEL DEEPENING Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 (PST)

A federal appeals panel, on a 2-1 vote, on Wednesday reaffirmed a lower court ruling that judged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took the required "hard look" at the environmental consequences before proceeding with a project to deepen the lower Columbia River shipping channel. Read More...

TRIBAL LEADERS, EPA DISCUSS WATER QUALITY, FISH POLLUTANTS Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 (PST)

Meeting this week in Pendleton, Ore., with some 300 Northwest tribal leaders, officials from EPA’s Region 10 indicated that state water quality standards may not be approved until fish consumption rates are increased to adequately protect Native Americans, who eat a lot more fish than people in the general population. Read More...