August 4, 2022
CONTACT:
Joseph Bogaard, Executive Director
Save Our wild Salmon Coalition
Joseph@wildsalmon.org
206-300-1003
The Save Our wild Salmon Coalition welcomes the Biden Administration's commitment to developing durable solutions for endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Snake and Columbia rivers.
Seattle WA, Joseph Bogaard, Executive Director of the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition (SOS) today welcomed news of an agreement to extend a stay in litigation challenging a Trump-era salmon plan and a costly and ineffective approach to protect and restore abundant salmon populations and the irreplaceable benefits they bring to the Northwest and nation.
“The Biden Administration has agreed with plaintiffs, including multiple SOS member groups, to extend a pause in the long-running litigation by making far-reaching and important commitments to protect and restore endangered salmon and steelhead and the Southern Resident orcas that rely upon them. If these commitments are kept, it’s great news, not just for these emblematic species, but for everyone in the Northwest and nation. What we’ve been doing for decades hasn’t worked. We urgently need a new approach that is legally defensible, scientifically-credible and fiscally-responsible.”
Today, the Biden Administration joined plaintiffs including the State of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, and a dozen fishing and conservation organizations represented by Earthjustice, in asking the U.S. District Court in Oregon to approve the agreement to extend the stay for thirteen months - until August 31, 2023. The Court approved this request by the parties earlier today.
Attached to the motion to extend the stay was a detailed commitment by the Biden Administration to “…supporting development of a durable long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power, and meeting the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region.”
“These are the core elements of the comprehensive regional solution that Northwest salmon, orcas and people so urgently need. It’s more critical now than ever that Northwest members of Congress come together to support the leadership of Sen. Murray, Gov. Inslee and the Biden Administration to develop, fund and begin to implement a solution that restores a freely flowing lower Snake River coupled with community and infrastructure investments that move everyone forward together. SOS supports a comprehensive regional solution for salmon and our communities, and we remain committed to working with the people, stakeholders and policymakers of the Northwest to address the urgency and seize this opportunity."
The motion to stay litigation filed with the Court and exhibits filed along with the motion can be found here on the Earthjustice website.
