The National Marine Fisheries Service’s flow augmentation and water
withdrawal policies for the Columbia and lower Snake Rivers do not contribute
to salmon survival and pose a threat to state water rights and local property
rights.
That was the primary criticism leveled against NMFS during a four-hour
congressional hearing Wednesday in Pasco.
State legislators, irrigators, researchers, and members of Congress
expressed concern that NMFS’s "zero net water loss" for the …