Federal Judge Reopens Door to Snake River Dams Breaching
A judge ordered the federal agencies involved in the operation of the massive hydropower system on the Columbia and Snake rivers to rewrite the "biological opinion" controlling operation of the 14 dams, or risk the consequence of a court takeover of river operations. He also held out the option of breaching the four Snake River dams if the agencies fail to cooperate to save 13 endangered salmon species.
"The governments inaction appears to some parties to be a strategy intended to avoid making hard choices and offending those who favor the status quo," wrote Judge James Redden of the U.S. District Court in Portland in a ruling released late Oct. 7.