When government and tribal leaders gathered in Salem earlier this year to sign the Klamath basin agreements, the talk was all about dam removal. ”Hasta la vista to the dams,” said California’s Governor Schwarzenegger. But what Schwarzenegger, Governor Kulongoski and the others glossed over is that there is no agreement to remove dams on the...
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The Obama Administration is walking away from what could have become the first big salmon fight of 2010. NOAA Fisheries is dropping plans to cut off spring time spills at four dams on the Lower Snake River.
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In any other part of the country, the idea might sound too crazy to be true. The feds want changes in how they help young salmon in the Columbia River Basin migrate to the Pacific Ocean this summer. Instead of making sure there’s enough water to help salmon swim past dams, the feds propose...
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In 1999, Pacific Power, environmental groups and the Yakama Nation reached a landmark agreement to remove the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River. More than a decade later, the dam is still there. The delays are frustrating the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, which recently warned members that time is running out if the...
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Fishing and conservation groups want the Washington Department of Ecology to loosen up some regulations and allow more water to be spilled over dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. If the timing is done right, spilling more water over dams helps young salmon migrate down river to the ocean. Conservationists compare it to...
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Showing it knows how to read a judge’s memo, NOAA says it will spend the next three months reworking the Obama plan for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin. Friday’s announcement was a response to federal district court Judge Redden, who strongly suggested this action nearly two weeks ago.
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Judging by the love fest inside the Capitol Rotunda this morning, it’s hard to imagine that the Klamath water wars ever existed. The room was filled with smiles, applause and some humor courtesy of Governor Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger joked it was finally time to say, “Hasta la vista to the dams.” The crowd ate it...
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Several environmental groups are coming together with a new proposal for removing four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River in Oregon and California. It’s response to an earlier agreement announced in September by the Interior Department. While that agreement laid the foundation for dam removal, many environmental groups were not satisfied with it. Today’s...
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Yes and no, according to Rocky Barker in the Idaho Statesman. The paper has a copy of a memo written after a group of independent scientists looked at the 2008 Biological Opinion, or BiOp. The BiOp is a ten year plan to help salmon and steelhead recover in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. According...
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