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Oh, By the Way, EPA by Associated Press Seattle Times - July 8, 2002

Saving threatened and endangered salmon species is expensive — but it's a value the federal Endangered Species Act has mandated and the Northwest has embraced with money and Herculean effort.

That's why Wednesday's finding by a federal judge that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has failed to fulfill its responsibility to protect salmon from dangerous pesticides was so disappointing.

Federal and state taxpayers, and Northwest power users have spent millions of dollars to restore salmon runs.

The state established the Salmon Recovery Planning Board devoted to the task. Washington hammered out an international treaty with British Columbia that curtails fishing of each other's salmon runs. A recent Northwest Power Planning Council review of hatcheries found that each protected sockeye salmon that returns to the Eagle Hatchery in Idaho costs about $7,437.50.

The Northwest's often quarrelsome effort has been exhaustive and spared no expense, so it's disturbing to find that EPA hasn't explored this pesticide question in the 13 years since the first salmonid species was listed as endangered.

In a summary judgment, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled EPA hadn't been examining the non-lethal, but potentially harmful, effects of pesticides used by farmers and homeowners on salmon. He ordered the agency to work with the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine the effects of 55 pesticides on salmon.

Environmental and commercial fishing groups brought the lawsuit, concerned that some pesticides were hurting runs because of their effect on the salmon life cycle, including reproduction and the ability to smell danger from predators.

The judge is right to make EPA look at all the effects of pesticides on salmon, especially considering the resources expended to restore runs. The problem wasn't caused by one factor alone, so success will depend on multifaceted solutions.

Because this question wasn't answered long ago, the region is left to wonder how much of its efforts have been undermined.

Related Links:
EPA Ordered to Protect Salmon from Pesticides by Jeff Barnard of the Associated Press