The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a 9-0 opinion in the case of S.D. Warren v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection, rejecting a South African paper company' s bid to exempt five of its hydroelectric dams in Maine from the Clean Water Act.

WASHINGTON, DC - The hydropower industry is about to get its day in court in a Clean Water Act case before the U.S. Supreme Court this February. If the industry wins, rivers everywhere will lose.

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.

In an unexpected addendum today, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear two wetlands cases and one case on the Clean Water Act's application to hydropower dams. These three cases are expected to show the Court's posture on the reach of the Clean Water Act.

The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled that federal energy regulators acted properly in citing environmental concerns and citizen opposition when rejecting preliminary permit applications for two new hydroelectric dams on the mid-Snake River near Twin Falls.

Court finds agency' s delay on ESA consultation petition “nothing less than egregious”

SEATTLE – Today, calling the agency' s delay “egregious,” a federal court ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to respond to a 1997 petition from conservation groups requesting that the agency consult with NOAA Fisheries on the adverse impacts the Hells Canyon Complex has on endangered salmon and steelhead.

The Cushman Project lies on the North Fork Skokomish River in Washington. On May 21, 1999, FERC issued an Order granting the City of Tacoma' s motion to stay implementation of the new Cushman license pending litigation, including the instream flow provisions. At that time, FERC instituted an interim flow requirement of only 60 cubic feet per second (“ cfs” ), well under the 240 cfs established in the new license. The 60 cfs is wholly inadequate to support a healthy riparian ecosystem and adversely impact fish spawning, rearing, and access to salmon and steelhead habitat.

Roseburg, OR-- Seven conservation groups today sued the federal government for issuing an environmentally damaging hydropower license for a hydroelectric project on the North Umpqua River.

On April 11, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of American Rivers, Alabama Rivers Alliance, and Lake Watch Lake Martin on the question of what action triggers the need for a Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification.

On August 22nd, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in City of Tacoma v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. After being left nearly dry for more than 80 years by the Cushman hydroelectric project, the North Fork Skokomish river will once again have a healthy flow of water.