Center for Biological Diversity to sue US Army Corps of Engineers
Over Kootenai River White Sturgeon and Bull Trout
December 14, 2006
The Center for Biological Diversity and WildWest Institute formally notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday, December 13, that they will sue the agency for “condemning the endangered Kootenai River White Sturgeon to extinction, illegally harming threatened Bull Trout, and failing to follow key provisions of two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinions, which detailed plans to save both fish.”
CBD contends the Corps knowingly failed to implement an alternative water storage procedure called VARQ that is designed to store enough water to allow for flows to benefit both sturgeon and listed salmon. This failure, they maintain, resulted in the Corps having to release large amounts of water through the spillway, resulting in harm to Bull Trout and other resident fish through gas bubble trauma, which is analogous to the "bends" in scuba divers.
The Center and WildWest are already in court challenging what they claim are inadequacies in Fish and Wildlife's most recent biological opinion, which was issued February 18, 2006. The State of Montana and Kootenai Tribe have joined that suit. When the new suit is filed in 60 days, the Corps of Engineers will be brought into the existing suit.
“For the first time, all the major land and wildlife managers will be engaged in a single comprehensive suit that will determine the future management of the Kootenai River, whether the Kootenai River Sturgeon goes extinct, and whether Bull Trout will continue to be needlessly harmed,” said CBD in their news release.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national non-profit conservation and environmental activist organization based out of Tuscon, Arizona, with more than 25,000 members. Their focus is the protection of endangered species and habitat.
For more on this suit, see the CBD’s press release (12/13/06): Army Corps to be Sued to Save Endangered Kootenai River White Sturgeon and Bull Trout
Story by LibbyMT.com
Related Links:
Center for Biological Diversity
GROUPS SEEK TO ADD CORPS TO KOOTENAI RIVER LAWSUIT , (12/15/06, The Columbia River Basin Fish & Wildlife News)
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