In a clear signal to the Obama Administration, Judge James Redden says current restoration plan won’t satisfy Endangered Species Act
The Seattle Times and other news services are reporting that Federal District Court Judge James Redden has advised lawyers involved in an epic legal battle over Columbia Basin salmon, that the federal government’s latest plan isn’t
sufficient. Although the letter is not a formal ruling, the judge is clearly tipping his hand that the Obama Administration hasn’t gone nearly far enough in offering a plan that will protect wild fish. The newspaper reports that the judge, among other things, is requesting a contingency plan that would include funding for the removal of four dams on the lower Snake River, should other parts of the plan prove inadequate. The judge has already twice ruled that federal plans–that resist dam breaching as a solution–are inadequate under the Endangered Species Act. The plan now before him is the first proposed by the Obama Administration.
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