Federal Officials Propose Less Water for Pacific Salmon

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, June 8, 2004 (ENS) - For four dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, federal officials have announced a plan to reduce summer spill - the practice of releasing water over dams to help young salmon migrate to the sea in summer. The plan is supposed to result in lower electricity rates for consumers in the Pacific Northwest.

The proposal would cut summer spill by 39 percent, a move that salmon advocates say will kill tens of thousands of fish and undermine the faltering federal plan to protect and restore salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest.

"This is a scientifically irresponsible and indefensible decision," said Jim Martin the former chief of fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and a current member of the National Wildlife Federation Board of Directors.

Summer spill allows fish to move past dams without going through the turbines - an impediment often lethal to the migrating salmon.

Conservationists believe summer spill is essential, and Martin says the proposed cuts come with an expectation of low water flows and high river temperatures this summer, conditions that do not bode well for migrating salmon.

Wild salmon on the Snake River. (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Federal officials insist the plan mitigates the impact on the fish and note it is less severe than a proposal floated in March that would have cut spill water by 55 percent.

Summer spill currently continues through August 31 at the four dams. The amended proposal calls for ending current spill operations at the Ice Harbor and John Day dams on August 22 and at Bonneville and The Dalles dams at the end of July.

Ice Harbor dam is on the Snake River; while the Bonneville, John Day and The Dalles dams are on the Columbia River.

"We believe this proposal would result in the survival of at least as many fish as the full summer spill program while reducing costs to Northwest electric ratepayers by approximately $20 million to $31 million," said Steve Wright, administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the federal agency that oversees 31 federal hydroelectric projects in the region.

Wright said the plan would reduce BPA wholesale power rates by one to two percent.

It also would only impact the 2004 summer spill, whereas the initial proposal would have set up a three year pilot program.

The latest proposal includes several measures to offset reductions in summer spill.

These include - increased water releases on the lower Snake River in July; increased control of northern pikeminnow, a predatory fish that feed on juvenile salmon; and adjusted spill from the John Day Dam on the Columbia River to protect juvenile chinook salmon from stranding.

President George W. Bush has come under fire from salmon advocates for his policies toward the fish, including a decision to include hatchery fish when considering endangered species protection for wild salmon. (Photo by Paul Morse courtesy White House)

Critics of the reduced spill see the mitigation efforts as inadequate and contend the proposal has little to do with saving salmon.

Cuts to summer spill water spurn "the unanimous scientific advice of Northwest fishery agencies and Indian Tribes," said Pat Ford, executive director of Save Our Wild Salmon.

"Dams harvest about 85 percent of Columbia River fall Chinook salmon each year," said Buzz Ramsey of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association. "Spill is the most important measure for mitigating hydro's excessive take of baby salmon. To make up for that loss, BPA continues to outline offsets that are insulting at worst and sketchy at best."

In addition to direct impacts like slower migration times, increased predation and hotter river temperatures, the proposal is likely to result in more fish being trucked and barged downriver.

"Salmon belong in rivers, not barges and trucks," said Rob Masonis, Northwest regional director with American Rivers. "This is a short-sighted move by the administration that ignores the long term harm it will cause to wild salmon and salmon dependent communities."

Sara Patton, executive director of the Northwest Energy Coalition says the plan will provide minimal benefits, if any, to Northwest ratepayers in the form of lower electricity bills.

Patton said the BPA inappropriately counts as "cost" the loss of projected extra income from the sales of excess hydropower to California.

Less summer spill means more salmon will be transported round the dams in trucks and barges. (Photo courtesy Save Our Wild Salmon)

There is added concern that the proposal guts the federal salmon plan.

U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled in May 2003 that the federal salmon plan violated the Endangered Species Act because there was no certainty that the recommended actions in the plan would be carried out.

Fear over the court's reaction to reducing summer spills kept federal managers from approving the policy for the Bonneville Power Administration in the summer of 2003.

Judge Redden originally ordered the Bush administration to revise the entire plan by June 2004. Last month he gave the administration an extension until November, but called for a draft revision to be released by the end of August.

The amended summer spill proposal will be discussed by federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes and other regional stakeholders at a public meeting scheduled for June 14 in Portland, Oregon.

The final decision is expected by the end of the month - more information on the plan can be found here.