Council To Review Salmon Plans Plans To Modify Columbia Dams With Fish Pipes Are Criticized

Congress has given the Northwest Power Planning Council authority to review the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ salmon plans.

The action comes as critics, including Indian tribes with treaty rights to Columbia salmon, contend that the corps continues to spend money on expensive dam modifications that fail to help salmon.

The corps plans to issue a $14.6 million contract Tuesday for construction of a two-mile pipe to get fish past Bonneville Dam.

Indian tribes and environmentalists say a scientific study of the pipe’s effectiveness would determine if it is a good way to spend salmon recovery money. The congressional review does not call for projects now under way to be halted.

“This case illustrates the need for a hard look at Army Corps construction plans,” said Karen Garrison, policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. “We’re talking about a lot of money on something with questionable benefits.”

Witt Anderson, fish program manager for the corps, said his agency will go forward with the Bonneville project because it is supported by everyone but the tribes.

The project, originally budgeted at $52 million and increased this week to $60 million, would send young salmon in a 3-foot pipe two miles past the dam. Corps plans call for building an additional pipe for $45.7 million, making the total outlay more than $100 million.

Tribal leaders who say their projects already have gone through rigorous evaluation called the review of corps’ spending entirely appropriate.

“We’ve been pushing for something like this for quite some time,” said Bob Hinith, hydrosystem coordinator for the Columbia River InterTribal Fish Commission.