the film forum library tutorial contact

Opponents of Columbia River Dredge Plan File Suit by Associated Press Capital Press, April 2, 2004

Opponents of a plan to deepen a 103-mile stretch of the Columbia River filed a lawsuit Tuesday, challenging the federal government’s approval of the $136 million project.

Earthjustice, a public-interest law firm representing Northwest Environmental Advocates, argued that dredging 3 feet from the river’s 600-foot-wide shipping channel from the Pacific Ocean to Portland would devastate salmon habitat and worsen erosion of Washington and Oregon beaches.

“This project is wrong for salmon and other species, it’s wrong for Washington and Oregon, and it’s wrong for the American taxpayers,” said Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates.

Brian Gorman, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries office in Seattle, said the agency had not reviewed the lawsuit yet and he could not comment on it. But he noted that when NOAA Fisheries approved the plan in May 2002, it stated that restoring salmon habitat is a priority.