The Daily News has one of the more fascinating stories of the day – a report of killer whales spotted in the Columbia River near Longview. Only one eyewitness so far, and he only got quick look at them. But wildlife experts interviewed by the newspaper won’t dismiss his claim. They say it’s quite possible for orcas to travel that far upriver.
Photo from BPA.
An independent science panel has looked at the Obama Administration’s plans to barge salmon around dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers this spring.
The conclusion? Not a good idea.
Columbia River Sockeye Salmon. Courtesy WDFW.
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 rounding them up, putting the fish on barges, and shipping them down river.
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 the ride salmon used to get when they went over free flowing waterfalls. It speeds them along during a crucial phase of life, increases their survivability, and is a heckuva lot safer that being flushed through turbines.
Oregon’s Senator Merkley and Rep. Blumenauer are introducing legislation to reduce pollution in the Columbia River.
At a cost of about $40 million a year, the bill creates a team at the EPA office in Portland that will work with states, tribes, local governments and other federal agencies across the Columbia River Basin.
It gets a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday morning – about 6:30am our time. Merkley is a member of the committee.
Washington Ecology has identified the source of a mile long petroleum coke spill that formed along the Columbia River earlier this month.
Ecology says it started at Chinook Ventures near Longview, Washington. This is a company that the department says has a history of air and water quality violations.
A female coho hovers over a redd in Washington's Methow River. Photo courtesy Tom Scribner, Yakama Nation.
Nearly extinct in these parts just 20-years ago, coho salmon are making a remarkable comeback in the upper Columbia River.
According to just released information from the Bonneville Power Administration, a record number of 19,805 adult coho passed over the Rock Island Dam near Wenatchee, Washington this year. A decade ago there were only 12.
This is not your typical Northwest “dams kill fish” kind of story.
Chinook Salmon Courtesy USGS
When the chinook salmon return on the Columbia River next spring, get ready for massive numbers of fish.
Wildlife officials say they’re expecting about 470,000 chinook for the spring run. If that prediction is accurate, it would be the biggest return of spring chinook since 1938.
The announcement by Oregon Fish and Wildlife, Washington Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, admits that past predictions of salmon runs haven’t always been on target.
So they’re taking extra precautions to get it right for 2010.
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 to Barker, the independent team praises the BiOp for doing a great job with the scientific analysis of the plan. But it also questions how much good the BiOp will do for endangered fish because there’s not enough data to draw conclusions. The independent team also agrees with the Obama Administration that breaching dams on the Lower Snake River should only be done as a last resort.
See Story: Memo shows scientists raised doubts actions to save salmon will do as much as advertised.
It’s a tricky business when reporters try to read the minds of judges. But if my impression is correct, U.S. District Judge Redden likes a lot of what he sees in the latest plans to help endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.
“This is a good piece of work,” said Redden just before he called today’s hearing to a close.
But serious problems remain. What Redden is looking at is really two plans, not one. First is the 2008 Biological Opinion (or BiOp) that was drawn up during the Bush Administration. Then you have the Obama update known as the Adaptive Management Implementation Plan (or AMIP).
The trick now is to bring those plans together as one, and to do so in a way that follows all the proper legal procedures. Redden has given lawyers from all sides a few weeks to give him ideas on how to do that. While everyone in the courtroom complained about how long it’s taking to settle on something, Redden’s new instructions are certain to drag things out further. How much longer is anyone’s guess.
Procedure Versus Substance
It’s not as if the big issues were ignored. Todd True with Earthjustice, said the feds were willing to let salmon populations fall too low for too long before taking action. He compared the feds to a tightrope walker who says, “I don’t need a safety net. I’ll design one before I hit the ground.”
True and other the attorneys opposing the 2008 BiOp also called for more spills to help fish past dams during migration. They said the BiOp relies too much on habitat restoration and improvement, and needs to include plans to help fish now, rather than waiting for salmon and steelhead populations to collapse.
Finally, they said the feds need to start studying the issue of removing four dams on the Lower Snake River, and not put off looking at the issue any longer.
Coby Howell, lead attorney for the federal government, says the objections are not based on science. He says its not unusual to see big swings in salmon populations, even when everything is going well. Setting population standards that are too high doesn’t tell you if the plan is working or not, according to Howell.
As for spilling more water over dams, Howell argued the government plan allows them to do that when necessary. But he also warned that spilling more water “comes with a cost.” Larger spills usually mean less water for generating electicity.
“The more we spill,” said Howell, “the more we have to offset with natural gas and coal, and that creates more carbon.”
No Decision Today
Redden wrapped things up without deciding any of the major issues presented to him. But he said it will probably take less time than people think to bring the AMIP and BiOp into a single plan.
Redden doesn’t want to drag this along much either. Noting that the public is probably asking, “What are all you doing in that courtroom?” he added, “I think we can do this. We’ve got the people here. Everyone wants to resolve this.”
