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QuickTake:
A federal judge ruled in favor of the Eugene Water & Electric Board in a case over fish passage at the Carmen-Smith Hydropower Project on the McKenzie River.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai dismissed a case in which four conservation groups sued the Eugene Water & Electric Board, alleging the utility is violating the Endangered Species Act.
Cascadia Wildlands, Native Fish Society, Oregon Wild and Willamette Riverkeeper filed the complaint in March. The groups contended the Trail Bridge Dam in EWEB’s Carmen-Smith Hydropower Project on the McKenzie River lacks adequate fish passage and harms threatened chinook salmon and bull trout.
During July’s oral arguments, discussion focused less on the fish and more on whether the case belonged in the U.S. District Court’s Eugene Division.
EWEB argued that only the U.S. Court of Appeals, not a district court, can hear challenges to the Carmen-Smith Hydropower Project’s license, which includes directions for fish passage.
However, the conservation groups countered that the lawsuit is one of the few ways to seek a preliminary injunction to protect chinook salmon and bull trout before spawning season, among other issues.
In an opinion released Aug. 8, Kasubhai dismissed the case, citing the Federal Power Act, which gives the U.S. Court of Appeals exclusive authority to revise such matters. He also denied the request for a preliminary injunction as no longer relevant.
In separate statements to Lookout Eugene-Springfield, EWEB generation manager Lisa Krentz said the utility is “grateful” for the ruling so its fish passage plans can move forward, while Cascadia Wildlands’ conservation director Bethany Cotton said “this is not the end of our efforts” for stronger protections for chinook salmon and bull trout.
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