Larry Craig Cuts Salmon SurveyTeam From Dams - Sportsmen Outraged

[hatrack]

So, guys, still voting Republican?

PORTLAND — The Bonneville Power Administration said Thursday that two new organizations will take responsibility for counting salmon passing over dams in the Columbia Basin, drawing outrage from Indian tribes, fishermen and conservationists unhappy that the Fish Passage Center was sacked. The move followed action by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who was critical of a Fish Passage Center report cited by a federal judge in ordering more water spilled over federal hydroelectric dams to help salmon.

Craig inserted language in an appropriations bill directing BPA to find someone new to count salmon. Spilling water over the dams leaves less to go through turbines to generate electricity.

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Representatives of Indian tribes and sport and commercial fishermen on the Columbia River roundly criticized the move, saying it could reduce the reliability of data that have been essential in reducing the harm dams cause salmon. "For the past 20 years the Fish Passage Center has provided the Northwest with reliable data in a timely manner. Today's decision is the result of a terribly flawed process that started from a false, predetermined conclusion — that the Fish Passage Center needed to be replaced," said Rebecca Miles, chairwoman of the Nez Perce Tribe.

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Meanwhile, fish conservation and sport fishing groups have filed a lawsuit asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to direct BPA to restore the center, arguing that the language Craig inserted does not have the force of law. Craig's office counters that it does.

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http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060127/NEWS01/601270365/1002