June 17, 2014 — A coalition of conservation and fishing organizations on Tuesday sued the federal agencies responsible for protecting endangered salmon and steelhead trout populations in the Pacific Northwest, charging that the agencies’ latest plan to aid 13 at-risk species falls short.
The lawsuit targets the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, asking a federal judge to rule the current plan invalid and order the government to craft one that better protects the species.
“We want the judge to tell the government to prepare a plan that complies with the law … and protects the salmon, which is what the law requires,” said Todd True, lead attorney for Earthjustice, a public interest environmental law firm.
The group wants the government to consider measures such as taking down four dams on the Lower Snake River or increasing so-called spill — sending more water over hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers to allow juvenile fish to swim past more easily and have a better chance of reaching the ocean.
In 1991, the Snake River sockeye was listed as endangered by the federal government, which then put forth its first plan to protect and bring back the species. Not long after that plan was released, environmental and fishing groups sued, saying the protections were not sufficient.
The suing groups prevailed, said Joseph Bogaard, executive director of Save Our Wild Salmon, one of the conservation groups involved in Tuesday's lawsuit and earlier litigation. Since the first federal listing 23 years ago, he said, the number of endangered fish populations in the region has grown to 13, and litigation over government protections has been continuous.
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