Inslee Calls Trudeau Pipeline Decision ‘Alarming,’ Cites Risks Of Oil Spills In Shared Waters
June 19th, 2019
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday the Canadian government’s approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion was “alarming and deeply disappointing.”
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Nez Perce Tribe Files Intent-To-Sue Notice Over Gold Mining Site In Area Of Salmon Restoration; Company Says Did Not Cause Current Pollution Issues
June 13th, 2019
The Nez Perce Tribe recently filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Midas Gold Idaho, Inc., alleging the mining company has been illegally discharging arsenic and other pollutants at Stibnite Gold Project site in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Salmon River.
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Court Order Sets Eight Year Timeline For Oregon Water Pollution Clean-Up Plans; Includes Several Columbia Basin Rivers
June 12th, 2019
Oregon and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have eight years in which to replace water pollution clean-up plans that allow temperatures harmful to salmon in some of the state’s key river basins, a federal court ordered late Tuesday.
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Oregon, Idaho Reach Agreement On Hells Canyon Dams, Water Quality; Includes Salmonid Research
April 24th, 2019
The states of Oregon and Idaho this week announced a settlement agreement regarding the operation of the Hells Canyon Complex on the Snake River that is intended to benefit water quality, habitat, and Columbia/Snake river basin fish.
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USFWS Proposes Lifting Federal Protections For Wolves; Legal Challenges Predicted
March 8th, 2019
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s top official announced this week the agency will propose lifting protections for wolves throughout the lower 48 states, triggering predictable opposition from environmental groups and continued litigation.
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NW Power/Conservation Council Hears Details On Flexible Spill Agreement To Aid Juvenile Salmonids
February 15th, 2019
An agreement was signed by federal agencies, states and one tribe in December that sets a framework for how spring and some summer spill at Columbia/Snake river dams will be conducted this year and for a couple of years into the future until its concept can be tucked into a new environmental impact statement and biological opinion of the federal power system in 2020 and into the interim 2018 BiOp expected to be released by NOAA Fisheries in April.
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Parties Sign Agreement On Flexible Spill For Fish Passage At Columbia/Snake Dams
December 21st, 2018
An agreement signed this week by federal agencies, states and a tribe promises additional spring spill next year at Columbia and Snake river dams to aid juvenile salmon passage, but how the spill is conducted will be by agreement among six parties and not by court order, as it was in spring 2018.
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Inslee Budget Includes Over $1 Billion For Orcas/Salmon; $750,000 For Task Force On Snake Dams
December 21st, 2018
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced late last week a budget that includes investments to save Southern Resident orca whales in Puget Sound. Much of his budget is aimed at increasing the number of chinook salmon, the killer whales’ primary food source, in the Columbia River basin and in Puget Sound, and includes funding a task force to look at breaching Snake River dams.
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Agreement Allows Idaho Steelhead Fishing While NOAA Reviews State Steelhead Plan
December 14th, 2018
Steelhead fishing is continuing past the December 7 cutoff date set by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission last week due to a last minute agreement between the state and conservation groups.