On the eve of a potential salmon fishing closure that would devastate coastal communities and fishing families in California and Oregon, a federal court today ruled that the Bush administration can not continue to strangle water flows in the Klamath River in years with average or below rainfall.

Coalition leaders American Rivers, American Whitewater, Friends of the River (California), Idaho Rivers United, Trout Unlimited, and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper filed a complaint in federal court on December 16th challenging new federal regulations for hydropower.

Learn more about the Coalition's work on the Energy Policy Act rulemaking.

Contact: John Seebach, HRC Coordinator 202-243-7055

On Thursday, November 17th, the Departments of Interior, Commerce, and Agriculture unveiled new rules for hydropower dam licensing, as directed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Although the public may comment on the new rules within the next sixty days, they take effect immediately, squandering the ability for the public to have an impact on something that directly affects a public resource - rivers.

The Endangered Species Act directs two federal agencies to save endangered species in part by protecting the places the species needs to recover. On August 12, 2005, the federal government reinterpreted the Endangered Species Act and eliminated 80% of previously protected “critical” habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead.

The new Critical Habitat policy, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), proposed to remove all habitat it considers already protected by other agencies such as the Forest Service under its Northwest Forest Plan.

Today the National Marine Fisheries Service (or NOAA Fisheries) issued its hatchery policy, listing determinations for 16 populations of salmon in the West, and an extension on determinations for the Oregon coastal coho and 10 populations of West Coast steelhead. Under this new hatchery policy, the federal fish agency will treat fish spawned and reared in a concrete hatchery raceway the same as a fish spawned and reared in a real stream.

The California Hydropower Reform Coalition and Pacific Northwest region of the Hydropower Reform Coalition submitted comments this Friday, November 12, 2004 on the National Marine Fisheries Service's proposed hatchery policy.

The policy proposes to consider hatchery fish the same as wild fish under Endangered Species Act protections, and will downgrade the quality of protection measures for endangered fish in the hydropower licensing process.

Enhanced fish habitat, improved river flows, and increased access to fishing spots are just a few benefits the angling community may receive when utility-owned hydropower dams seek a new license to operate on our rivers and streams. But under a new rule proposed by the Department of the Interior, those protections and benefits are in jeopardy.

(Washington, DC) The Interior Department is poised to hand the energy industry another favor at the expense of fish restoration, outdoor recreation, and public lands protection, conservation and recreation advocates warned today. A new departmental rule, released for public comment today, provides electric utilities exclusive rights to appeal environmental and recreational requirements at hydropower dams. This policy provides hydroelectric dam owners with direct access to upper echelons of the Interior Department - but not other interested parties such as states, tribes, conservationists, anglers, boaters, local governments, and irrigators.

You may have seen our billboards up in Sacramento (on I-80 East near Leisuretown), Seattle (corner of 4th and Cherry), and Portland (corner of Burnside and NW 22nd).

Whether or not you've seen the billboards, you should visit the Why Wild website to learn:

• Why wild salmon are special and important
• Why a proposed federal hatchery policy does not protect wild salmon
• What you can to restore protections to wild salmon.

See Trout Unlimited's blueprint for 21st century hatchery reform.

Statement on Federal Salmon Hatchery Policy

4/29/2004 - Washington - North America' s largest trout and salmon organization, Trout Unlimited (TU), today criticized a proposal by the federal government to count hatchery fish in determining whether to protect salmon and steelhead under the Endangered Species Act.