DNR Wrongfully Issued Pebble Permits

Another day, another Pebble beat down.

The Alsaka Supreme Court unanimously overturned a 2011 ruling in a case that challenged whether the DNR permits issued for exploratory work at the Pebble site should have included some public notice.

LINK (via: Alaskas Public Media)

The heart of the Clean Water Act is the principle that the Nation’s waters cannot be used directly or indirectly to dispose of waste

Last week we were horrified to learn that there are 21 Attorney Generals from states no where near the Chesapeake Bay filing suit to stop the EPA's clean up plan for the bay. 

In response several major cities and conservation groups are rallying to support the clean up effort.

Six major U.S. cities — New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco — filed an amicus brief this week in support of the EPA-led Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, which imposes limits on the level of nutrients that can enter the bay each day. Four Florida conservation groups also submitted a brief in support of the cleanup plan, adding additional out-of-state support to a contest that for the past few months has been between the six Chesapeake Bay states and the 21 states, backed by major agriculture groups, that oppose the plan.

LINK (via:Think Progress)

Steelhead Hatchery Programs Violating ESA

Fresh off a successful Native Fish Society lawsuit against the Sandy River hatchery program in Oregon, the Wild Fish Conservancy is now teeing up a meaty lawsuit against the WDFW.

Today, Wild Fish Conservancy, a Puget Sound-based conservation group, sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), alleging that the agency’s planting of “Chambers Creek” steelhead in Puget Sound watersheds is in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The group states that the widespread planting of the highly domesticated hatchery stock across Puget Sound watersheds harms wild Puget Sound steelhead, wild Puget Sound Chinook salmon, and bull trout.  All three species are listed as “threatened” under the ESA.

LINK

Montana Supreme Court affirms stream access

Public land access advocates are celebrating a ruling Thursday by the Montana Supreme Court upholding the state's stream access law and clarifying the public's rights to use historic rights-of-way.

In a case involving a group of roads near the Ruby River in Madison County, the high court sided with the Public Lands Access Association and against the county and an out-of-state landowner -- James Cox Kennedy, chairman of media conglomerate Cox Enterprises -- who had blocked access to the river through parts of his 3,000-acre ranch.

LINK (via:KRTV)

Now only if the anti stream access forces in Utah could get their heads out of their collective derrieres.

Lawsuit Filed Over Hatchery Salmon

The state and federal governments’ annual release of hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised spring chinook salmon into the McKenzie River is jeopardizing the recovery of the river’s dwindling wild salmon runs and must be dramatically curtailed, two fly fishing advocacy groups say in a federal lawsuit filed this week.

McKenzie Flyfishers and the Steamboaters allege in the suit that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are violating the federal Endangered Species Act by not taking measures to prevent the crossbreeding of wild and hatchery spring chinook salmon in the McKenzie River.

LINK (via:OPB News)

Montana - Wyoming Water Dispute

A legal clash over water rights goes to trial this week as attorneys for Montana press their case that Wyoming farmers and oil and gas companies are sucking too much water from tributaries of the Yellowstone River.

The trial comes more than six years after Montana sued its southern neighbor before the U.S. Supreme Court for supposed violations of the Yellowstone River Compact. That agreement governs water use in a basin that includes portions of Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota.   

LINK (via: The Missoulian)