When it came time to release their plan, however, the agencies once again dropped the ball. It gave them a unique opportunity to get it right: to save wild salmon by restoring the lower Snake River and removing four dams there, along with other actions and investments that would move the Northwest toward a cleaner energy future and restore the prosperity of fishers and farmers. The court granted the agencies five years to draft a new plan and change course.
Of federal salmon recovery undertakings in the Columbia Basin thus far, the Court said, “These efforts have already cost billions of dollars, yet they are failing.” Some $15 billion has been spent. Significantly, it dismantled the paradigm of trying to restore endangered Snake River salmon without considering major modification or removal of some dams. Simon, rejected the foundation for prior salmon plans. The most recent court decision, issued May 4, 2016, by Judge Michael H. During that time, three different federal judges declared five different federal plans illegal. Over the past 25 years, conservation and fishing groups have gone to court challenging federal agency hydropower systems operation plans that failed to protect threatened and endangered salmon in the Columbia River basin.