More than a dozen environmental groups sued the federal government yesterday, saying its plan to manage hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Northwest fails to provide adequate protections for salmon. Todd True, an attorney with the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said, “We have a lot of ways to meet our energy needs. These salmon only have one river forever. If we do not support them, they will go extinct.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., ruled early this week that the federal government must pay property owners when it takes water away from them to help fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.
