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Feds: Salmon Suit Out of Bounds by Eric Barker Lewiston Tribune, December 17, 2025

Government seeking dismissal of case that
claims dams threaten salmon, steelhead

Government seeking dismissal of case that claims dams threaten salmon, steelhead

The federal government is challenging the judicial jurisdiction of a sprawling legal challenge to its operation of dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Last month, the state of Oregon and conservation groups renewed their lawsuit against the federal government, claiming operation of federal dams puts threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead at further risk of extinction.

As part of the suit, the plaintiffs asked Oregon District Court Judge Michael Simon to order the government to spill more water at the dams and to lower reservoir levels as interim emergency measures to help the fish while the case unfolds.

In a motion to dismiss filed late Monday, the government claims the district court, which has presided over the case for more than 30 years, lacks jurisdiction. Because the requested relief relates to actions and decisions by the Bonneville Power Administration, the lawyers from the Department of Justice argue the case should be heard by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as directed by a provision of the Northwest Power Act.

"The Northwest Power Act grants exclusive authority to the courts of appeal to hear cases against Bonneville challenging final actions and decisions it takes under the Northwest Power Act and several other statutes," Adam R.F. Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, wrote in the motion. "When Congress passed the Northwest Power Act, Congress intended that Bonneville's final actions would only be reviewable in the court of appeals, not the district court."

Notably, in their filing, Oregon and the conservation groups did not include BPA as a defendant. But Gustafson and his team argue the agency that was created to market federal power from the Columbia River hydropower system, and to ensure a reliable and affordable supply of power, is central to the case. Along with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, the BPA, or Bonneville, collaborated to produce a 2020 plan called the Joint Decision in the motion. It outlined how the dams would be operated to both meet BPA's obligations and lessen the harm caused to salmon and steelhead.

"Plaintiffs cannot avoid this result by purporting to challenge only the actions taken by other agencies involved in the Joint Decision. Actions by agencies other than Bonneville are still subject to the exclusive jurisdiction provision when they are inextricably intertwined with a Bonneville action, like the Joint Decision," Gustafson and his team wrote.

They argue that the companion biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service that judged the government's dam operation plan as sufficient to avoid harming the fish under the Endangered Species Act involves BPA enough to bump jurisdiction to the court of appeals.

Amanda Goodin, an Earthjustice attorney representing the conservation groups, dismissed the jurisdictional argument.

"The district court clearly has jurisdiction over the Corps' failure to protect imperiled salmon and steelhead from the harmful operation of federal dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. The district court has had jurisdiction since litigation to protect these salmon was first filed three decades ago -- these new arguments are just another attempt to avoid responsibility for the fact that these dams are driving salmon to extinction," she said in a statement to the Lewiston Tribune.

Several industry groups also filed motions before a Monday night deadline. They argued the relief requested by the conservation groups would drive up power costs without delivering proven benefits to the fish. A declaration filed by the BPA said rates for nonprofit cooperative power companies could climb 17% if the requests are granted.

"The litigation is like a hidden double-digit tax on electricity customers that threatens real harm to lower-income families, schools, farms, and businesses without providing any proven benefits to salmon," said Kurt Miller, executive director of Northwest Public Power Association, in a news release. "BPA's official analysis directly refutes plaintiff groups' unsupported assertions that the lawsuit would have little impact on electricity rates or public safety."

The long-running litigation has been on hold after the Biden Administration struck an agreement with the plaintiffs including the Nez Perce and other Columbia River tribes in 2023 that funded studies into the best ways to replace barging, power generation and irrigation if the four lower Snake River dams were to be breached. It also pledged about $1 billion for salmon conservation and renewable energy development. President Donald Trump killed the agreement he said was part of a "radical green agenda."

Related Pages:
Irrigators Want Dams Off Endangered List by Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune, 12/7/16