Calls Endangered Species Act into Question
Statement from Terry Flores, executive director of Northwest
RiverPartners:
(PORTLAND, OR) -- Northwest RiverPartners is extremely
disappointed in today’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Simon regarding
the federal salmon plan, or Biological Opinion (BiOp), which fails to
acknowledge that this BiOp is the most science-based, comprehensive and
expensive effort to restore an endangered species in the nation, and is
supported by the Obama Administration.
The decision potentially unwinds years of collaboration
between federal agencies, Northwest states and tribes, and other stakeholders.
The ruling does not provide a path forward for the region, other than re-doing
the plan’s analysis and conducting an evaluation of alternatives, including dam
removal, under the National Environmental Policy Act.
While the judge keeps the salmon plan in place and
acknowledges its many measures are benefitting salmon, he concludes that they
are not enough. The ruling creates years of more analysis of little value to
the listed species. During the Obama Administration’s review of the science
underpinning the BiOp, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator and Under
Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, as well as independent
scientists, concluded: “Overall it was an excellent analysis that used the best
available science that was used in an extremely thoughtful way. The assumptions
made were perfectly reasonable and it was done as well as it could have been
done.”
Sadly, this court has failed to give deference to the
agencies with expertise on the science as called for under the law. This BiOp,
with its unprecedented collaboration, measures, investment and sound science,
was considered a model; if it is not sufficient, that raises a fundamental
question of whether the Endangered Species Act is at all workable.
