Grand Canyon Issues
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Tell your congressional representative and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar that science and law should be followed in Grand Canyon National Park. See our goals for specifics.
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The court’s words give hope: “The court is strongly inclined to conclude that MLFF dam operations destroy and adversely modify chub critical habitat in violation of the Endangered Species Act.”
May 26, 2009, Federal Court Opinion
The court issued an opinion ruling on three of the remaining six claims, postponing a decision on the other three claims until Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) revises its 2008 Biological Opinion (2008 BO) consistent with the judge’s order.
The court granted us summary judgment on our ESA claim against FWS’s 2008 BO (used by Reclamation to support its current 5-year experimental plan). Claim seven goes to the heart of our case as it questions the validity of current dam operations. The court struck down the part of the 2008 BO that supports current dam operations — modified low fluctuating flows (MLFF) — stating that the agency did not provide sufficient justification for its change of position from antagonism to support. (FWS’s long-standing position since their 1994 BO, restated as recently as 2007, has been that MLFF destroys and adversely modifies humpback chub habitat.) FWS has until October 30 to complete the revision.
The two parties will likely be required to file additional briefs by year-end. If FWS cannot find scientific evidence that contradicts 13 years of science repudiating MLFF (and they haven’t been able to yet through 2 years of briefing and two court appearances), then the court has suggested that these dam operations will have to change.
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