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Thursday, 05 January 2012 18:12 |
 Dammed If We Don't
Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc.
January 2012
Environmentalist David Brower was once asked, "Why are you conservationists always against things?" He replied, "If you are against something, you are always for something. If you are against a dam, you are for a river."
I'm also a lover of wild rivers. That's why our company has been involved in trying to take out obsolete and damaging dams since 1993. We've had some success helping take down the Edwards Dam on Maine's Kennebec River in 1999, and the Savage Rapids Dam on Oregon's Rogue River in 2009. As I write this, three large dams are slated to come down on Washington's Elwha and White Salmon Rivers. The United States has more than 82,000 dams in its inventory and researchers estimate there may be at least two million dams of various sizes. So far, at least 836 dams have come down, but 26,000 "hazardous" dams (according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) remain. Many of these dams were built by local irrigation districts, private power companies and local, state and federal governments. When they become obsolete safety hazards, like mines, the owners just walk away and leave the cleanup and restoration to the taxpayers. Read more of Yvon's essay over at Patagonia.
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Thursday, 05 January 2012 18:48 |
 Let's stop defending failure in the Columbia Basin Sustainable Business Oregon
By Jeff Hickman
Northwest RiverPartners' members should be disappointed to read the executive director's recent guest opinion in this publication ("Federal salmon plan stands strong," by Terry Flores). Flores fails to explain exactly why her group is claiming the federal government's Columbia-Snake Basin salmon plan "stands strong" despite the fact that it was ruled illegal, again, in court this past August or why RiverPartners so strongly opposes people coming together to try to fix this long-standing debate.
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 2011: A Year in Review
by Pat Ford, executive director for Save Our Wild Salmon
We head into 2012 with strong winds behind our work to restore Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead. The winds are legal, biological, political, and economic. Your work and support has been critical to these successes; we could not have done it without you. Please help us keep working for the Columbia and Snake Rivers and their salmon and steelhead by making a year-end, tax-deductible contribution. Please donate now.
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Wednesday, 07 December 2011 22:35 |
FERC Supports Wind Energy, Salmon in Bonneville Power Dispute
 Portland, OR—Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a ruling on the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) “Environmental Redispatch and No Negative Pricing Policy.” The ruling finds BPA’s curtailment of wind industry access to the power grid during periods of over-generation discriminatory. BPA had cited salmon protections as its motive for the policy. Download the ruling.
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Tuesday, 06 December 2011 19:33 |
ESA Protects Jobs, Salmon
Washington, DC—Today, Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) held a hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its impact on jobs and the economy. The ESA is critical for protecting wild, endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific Northwest. Those protected salmon in turn are responsible for thousands of jobs across the region, from Alaska to California, and across numerous industries. Some of the affected industries include commercial and sport fishing, recreation and tourism, restaurants, and the growing renewable energy sector.
“Suggesting that the ESA is at odds with economic vitality is simply a false proposition. When it comes to wild salmon, protecting and implementing the Endangered Species Act is about more than saving fish; it's about saving jobs and livelihoods in our communities as well as. Literally thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs are supported by salmon and steelhead in the West,” said Joel Kawahara, a commercial salmon fisherman from Quilcene, WA. A Washington Trollers Association board member, Kawahara joined 20 other Northwest business leaders in sending a letter to Congressman Hastings today in support of the ESA, jobs, and salmon.
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 A judge has stepped up for Idaho’s fish. Now it’s our turn.
Idaho Statesman Editorial
12/04/11
"...A recovered and fishable wild salmon population would help restore an outdoor recreation economy in small towns in the heart of Idaho’s salmon country.
That is why the Statesman supports removing the lower Snake River dams in Washington state and replacing the shipping system tied to the dams and the port of Lewiston. We believe this is the best way to protect Idaho’s fish, Idaho’s water and Idaho’s economy — and have argued this since 1997, or six years before Redden’s first landmark ruling rejecting a federal salmon plan.
But in 2011, this region is no closer to salmon consensus, the issue still embroiled in court. There is, from time to time, discussion of bringing together the many groups with a stake in salmon recovery. But there is more talk about talking than there is actual talking. A grand bargain on salmon remains an ideal and an abstraction.
We can and must do better. The feds’ 2014 deadline is a long way off: There’s ample time to at least begin the regional discussion that has been put off for too long."
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Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:13 |
Congress Calls on Obama To Convene Wild Salmon Solutions Table
Bipartisan group of lawmakers join U.S. businesses and conservation groups in calling for a new approach to salmon restoration
 WASHINGTON, DC -- In a letter sent this week, 52 Members of Congress called on President Obama to convene a "solutions table" to help protect and restore endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake River basins of the Pacific Northwest.
With bipartisan support from lawmakers representing 23 states and territories, Congressmen Jim McDermott (D-WA), Tom Petri (R-WI), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) spearheaded the letter to bring together all parties with a stake in salmon restoration to create a broad-based, collaborative process that explores and identifies real salmon recovery solutions.
The House letter follows a recent letter from nearly 1200 American businesses calling for a new approach to salmon restoration by setting up such a collaborative process. The letter also follows a request from seven of the nation’s leading conservation groups seeking a meeting with the new Commerce Secretary, John Bryson, to discuss a similar approach.
“Discussion and open debate are critical to creating a successful salmon restoration plan," said Congressman McDermott. "The previous four plans did not consider all stakeholder views, and were unsurprisingly struck down in federal court. Now is the time to act. By convening a stakeholder’s solutions table that gives all affected parties a voice, we can ensure a thoughtful and successful salmon plan that not only saves taxpayer dollars, but can truly protect this cherished resource.”
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Wednesday, 23 November 2011 02:15 |
 Advocates Applaud Judge Redden, Call for Salmon Solutions Table
Federal district Judge James A. Redden has announced that he will step down before the next salmon BiOp is filed in 2014 as required by his August 2 ruling. The Court will assign a new Article III judge to the case in the near future.
Judge Redden has been a serious force for wild salmon and steelhead over nearly 20 years of litigation with the Federal Agencies. By requiring the Federal Agencies involved to heed science and follow the law for endangered species, Judge Redden has single-handedly helped improve spill requirements for migrating salmon, improved habitat measures, and helped to sustain thousand of jobs dependent on salmon across the West coast. Judge Redden has done more to save wild salmon and steelhead than the last three federal Administrations combined.
“We hope that between now and 2014, the Federal Agencies will take a good look at what Judge Redden said in his August ruling of this year and make real, needed changes in the Biological Opinion. If they would do that, we might not even need a new judge for the case. And we could get down to the real business of building a more collaborative, science driven process involving the region’s stakeholders and develop real, innovative solutions to restore wild salmon,” said Save Our wild Salmon executive director Pat Ford.
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Tuesday, 22 November 2011 19:16 |
Salmon Groups: Let’s Try Something Totally Different
 SALEM, Ore. - The federal government has rejected the offer to try something new and different for resorting wild salmon and steelhead in Columbia and Snake Rivers.
From Brett Brownscombe, a policy adviser from Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's Natural Resources Office: "There's a real opportunity here to, once and for all, resolve the decade-plus litigation. We feel the government is missing this, asking the region to walk down the same path that has led to multiple court decisions against the government's position."
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Thursday, 17 November 2011 03:20 |
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Federal Agencies refuse to open discussions
Salmon advocates recently requested a settlement judge be appointed by the Court to help improve the process of finding solutions to save endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead. The federal agencies responded to the request today, stating that such a process is ”improper and should be denied” and that instead “now is the time to stay the course.”
The federal agencies appear to remain intransigent in their view that they will do no more than tweak a plan the courts have rejected in order to protect Columbia-Snake River salmon, despite the fact that the court said they should consider all options for saving salmon, and to sit down with others to craft a new, legally and scientifically sound plan.
“You’d have to believe in the tooth fairy to believe that the regional federal agencies are either truly consulting with all relevant parties in a meaningful way, or likely to develop a scientifically and legally responsible plan after failing miserably four times previously. It’s time to drop the fantasy and put in place a real process that brings all the key stakeholders together to work in tandem with the Obama Administration and the agencies to forge a solution that will work for salmon, people and communities,“ stated Bill Arthur, National Field Director of the Sierra Club, in reaction to the federal response.
The court will consider the Plaintiffs’ request in the coming weeks.
For more information, contact Amy Baird,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- 503.230.0421 x13
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