Recovery-plan revision extended

PORTLAND — A federal judge has voiced strong doubts about the government’s financial commitment to protecting threatened salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers from hydroelectric dams.

Noting a lack of money secured for habitat restoration and other measures to make up for salmon killed or injured by dams, U.S. District Judge James Redden on Thursday gave the Bush administration six more months to revise its blueprint for salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin.

The judge said he was concerned that the extra time “will be essentially futile because adequate funding is not in place and will not likely be secured in the near future.”

Acting on a lawsuit brought by conservation groups, Redden rejected the federal government’s plans for restoring threatened and endangered species of salmon in the Columbia Basin in May 2003, saying it fell short of standards required by the Endangered Species Act.

The judge originally gave the Bush administration until June 2 to reshape the plan, but extended that until Nov. 30. He required a draft to be ready by the end of August.

Redden said government officials appear to have proposed a new strategy for deciding whether dams jeopardize listed salmon and steelhead, rather than fixing aspects of the salmon plan the court found lacking.

Earthjustice attorney Todd True, who led the case against the government, said Friday the judge’s decision was important because it gives an opportunity to see where the government is going on salmon recovery sooner rather than later.

“You can write all the plans you want, but if you don’t have the money to implement them, it doesn’t do much good,” he said.

NOAA Fisheries spokesman Bob Walton said the agency has not received the judge’s opinion and so could not comment.