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Good Science Counts by Editors Seattle Times, January 26, 2007

The federal Appeals Court decision that keeps the Fish Passage Center in business is good for taxpayers as well as the survival of salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Bonneville Power Administration overreacted to efforts by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, to shut down the tiny Portland office that counts fish at 20 dams and fish traps and makes recommendations on water flows over dams. The center is a powerful scientific tool and its independent, unvarnished findings are made available to the public, which Craig and other critics found annoying. The numbers turn up in environmental lawsuits.

Taxpayers have an enormous investment in the health of Northwest fish runs and restoration efforts.

Recovery efforts would not be any more accurate or less expensive with the Fish Passage Center silenced.