Monday, September 24, 2012

Fear of flying: The Twilight Zone

Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber: Act now to save salmon and energy | OregonLive.com

We can end the Columbia basin salmon wars now by balancing energy, conservation | OregonLive.com:
By John Kitzhaber

If you look only at the courtroom record, environmentalists are winning the war to save salmon in the Northwest. A year ago, U.S. District Judge James Redden sent the federal plan for managing the Columbia hydro system back to the drawing board -- marking the fourth time in the past 20 years that federal agencies have failed to present a defensible program for saving salmon. 

TSUNAMI_DEBRIS_OREGON_20213447.JPGView full sizeGov. John Kitzhaber
But wins in court don't keep our salmon and steelhead from going extinct. At almost the same time as Judge Redden's decision, the federal government released its most recent review of wild salmon in the Northwest. That review found that many runs remain at high risk of extinction and that the level of risk is not changing for most species. Federal agencies, including the Bonneville Power Administration, are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to stem the decline, but they are losing in court and they are losing in our rivers and streams. ....
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