GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Salmon advocates have asked a federal judge to strike down the Obama administration’s plan for making the Columbia Basin’s hydroelectric dams safer for salmon, and they say they don’t like it.
A motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland argues that the latest plan — known as a biological opinion — is little different than the Bush administration’s 2008 plan, and has little scientific evidence to back it up.
The filing is part of the long-running legal battle over balancing the survival of protected salmon against cheap hydroelectric power from dams in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
U.S. District Judge James Redden is expected to rule sometime next year on whether the latest plan meets the demands of the Endangered Species Act.
