Agency sued over putting hydropower ahead of fish

PORTLAND -- At least a dozen environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service yesterday, claiming that the agency gave what amounted to a "blank check" allowing hydroelectric dams to favor power generation over salmon-saving efforts.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, charges that a biological opinion issued by NMFS in December contains fundamental scientific and legal flaws that could further imperil struggling species of salmon and steelhead trout on the upper Columbia and Snake rivers.

"The main point here is, we have a lot of ways to meet our energy needs," said Todd True, an attorney with the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. "These salmon only have one river forever. If we do not support them, they will go extinct."

Last month, a group called Trout Unlimited predicted wild spring and summer chinook in the Snake will be extinct by 2016, a year earlier than expected, unless dramatic measures were taken.

Brian Gorman, spokesman for the NMFS regional office in Seattle, countered that the lawsuit ignores the real possibility of a drought this summer.

Experts fear that low water levels and soaring power prices could lead to rolling blackouts similar to the energy crisis in California.

"I don't know where these people think they are. We are in the middle of a terrific drought," Gorman said.

"We intentionally put a provision in there to allow the BPA to act in the event of a drought."

Spilling water through dams to help young salmon migrate to the ocean is required under a federal fish recovery plan, but the Bonneville Power Administration -- which markets low-cost electricity generated at 29 Northwest dams -- twice declared power emergencies last month and temporarily waived the plan's requirements.

The BPA, responding to intense criticism from environmentalists and Gov. John Kitzhaber, is expected to announce today that it will spill more water for salmon.

Anticipation of that move is bringing heat from the other side of the issue. Hundreds of aluminum workers are scheduled to stage a protest outside BPA headquarters in Portland today, claiming the agency is putting fish before jobs.

"We have taken enormous pains throughout the region to provide water for fish this spring and summer, and if you don't believe it, come to Bonneville (this) morning," BPA spokesman Ed Mosey said.

Kitzhaber, while sharing the environmentalists' politics, does not feel the lawsuit was warranted, spokesman Jon Coney said.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that the NMFS biological opinion remains fundamentally flawed because the BPA can turn the water "on and off like a faucet."

"A year like this, when you have a drought, is when you need the safety net the most," Jim Martin, the former chief of fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said yesterday at a midday rally.

But Fred Ziari, an irrigation engineer from Hermiston who represents the interests of Eastern Oregon farmers, said, "The BPA is not God, and neither it nor anybody else can make more water."

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