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| Council standing by its decisions despite tribal
lawsuit and advertising campaign.
"This isn't about who did what to whom. It's about how to
bring back the salmon." For more information: |
The Northwest Power
Planning Council maintains that its decision to put on hold about
$45 million in new hatchery and habitat projects until they can be
further reviewed is the correct approach, despite a lawsuit filed by
Columbia River Basin Indian tribes and full-page advertisements
posted by the tribes in major Northwest papers over the weekend. XXThe Council, in delaying funding for the projects, was responding to a 1996 amendment to the Northwest Power Act that calls for increased scrutiny of and accountability for the region's fish and wildlife recovery efforts. "This isn't about who did what to whom," said Council Chairman John Etchart. "It's about how to bring back the salmon. We have heard clearly from Northwest citizens and from Congress that there must be greater accountability for fish and wildlife recovery, and the Council is simply working to provide that accountability." XXThree lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Nez Perce Tribe. The Yakama Indian Nation is expected to file a petition as well. XXThe tribes are seeking judicial review of the Council's mid-September decision to fund $94 million in proposed projects, but hold another $45 million - most of them tribal hatchery and habitat projects - for additional scientific and economic review. The tribes maintain that the Council is deliberately holding up tribal projects for further review, but giving others the go-ahead. XXState and tribal fish and wildlife managers, under the auspices of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, had proposed that $144 million in ongoing and new projects be funded in Fiscal Year 1998 by the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville has approximately $127 million to spend each year on such projects. XXTo help refine the list, the Council asked a panel of 11 independent scientists, nominated by the National Academy of Sciences, to review the proposed projects for their scientific merit. The scientists raised numerous questions, including the amount of money proposed for new salmon hatcheries, given concerns about hatchery effects on wild stocks of salmon. In response to the scientists, the Council agreed to further review new hatchery projects. The scope of a basinwide hatchery review process is being discussed in a series of consultations, as well as in the Council's working session in Spokane this week. The Council expects the consultations to provide an opportunity to air and incorporate tribal concerns in the review process. XXThe Council is also holding the scoping discussions to define its review of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' capital construction projects at Corps' dams. The review of Corps' expenditures and the hatchery review were called for by Congress in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1998. XXAt the first meeting, the Council spoke with representatives of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Yakama Indian Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council. XXAdditional discussions are scheduled for later this week. |
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