1. NW DELEGATION, FEDS AIR VIEWS ON RECOVERY PLANS Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 (PST)

Three days of hearings before two Senate subcommittees this week provided the first public forum for a direct exchange of views on the Clinton administration's salmon recovery plan between top federal officials and their strongest critics in the Northwest congressional delegation. Read More...

2. GOVERNORS, POWER COUNCIL TAKE CASE TO CONGRESS Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 (PST)

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and representatives of other Northwest governors and the Northwest Power Council this week went to Washington, D.C., to seek a greater role for states in salmon recovery. They testified at a Senate hearing, and Kempthorne met with two Cabinet members about the issue -- Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta and Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt. Kempthorne was accompanied by Idaho Attorney General Al Lance. Read More...

3. SCIENTISTS SAY NMFS' BIOP LACKS COLLABORATION Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 (PST)

State and tribal fisheries scientists told Congress on Thursday that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to collaborate with them on its draft biological opinion for endangered Columbia Basin salmon. Testifying on the last of three days of Senate hearings on the Clinton administration's salmon plan, four officials said collaboration ended in late 1998 and early 1999 when NMFS abandoned the PATH process. Read More...