24 january 2007
Media Contact:
Tim Weaver,
Yakama Nation legal counsel,
(509) 575-1500
Charles Hudson, CRITFC, (503) 731-1257
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Yakama
Nation wins Fish Passage Center case in 9th Circuit
(Yakama
Nation official press release)
Portland, Oregon
- Science and salmon
restoration won a major legal victory today when the United States
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Fish Passage Center
must remain operational and funded by the Bonneville Power Administration.
The Yakama Nation and co-plaintiffs successfully argued the case in
a complex lawsuit involving the authority of the Northwest Power Act,
Congressional report language and the obligation of BPA to properly
interpret the authority and directives of the Act.
"This is a great win for the Yakama Nation and all people working
hard for science-based salmon restoration," said Lavina Washines,
Chairwoman of the Yakama Nation. "This ruling reaffirms the authority
of the Yakama Nation and other regional sovereigns in defining, crafting
and implementing salmon recovery."
In today's ruling the Ninth Circuit wrote, "We hold that BPA's
decision to transfer the functions of the FPC to Pacific States and
Battelle was arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law. We set aside
BPA's decision to transfer the functions of the FPC to Pacific States
and Battelle and order that BPA continue its existing contractual
arrangement to fund and support the FPC unless and until it has established
a proper basis for displacing the FPC."
"The Judicial panel understood that BPA was wrongly taking direction
from congressional report language that may have been written by an
'individual legislator, congressional staffers, or even lobbyists,'"
said Tim Weaver, legal counsel for the Yakama Nation. "That's
not how the United States Constitution works. BPA must comply with
the intent of congress as expressed in law, not the comments of an
individual member of the House or Senate."
In November 2005, U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) inserted language
into a report accompanying the Senate's 2006 Energy & Water appropriations
bill that directed the BPA and the Northwest Power and Conservation
Council to cease funding the FPC and transfer its functions to another
entity in the region within 120 days.
Authorized by the Fish and Wildlife provisions of the Northwest Power
Act, and operating for the past 20 years, the Fish Passage Center
collects, analyzes, and makes public vital information about salmon
and steelhead data on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. State and tribal
decision makers rely heavily on the information provided by the FPC
to analyze the impact of hydro operations on salmon.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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