The federal district court for the District of Oregon granted motions for preliminary injunction filed by National Wildlife Federation and other organizations (NWF) and by the State of Oregon seeking to require the Bureau of Reclamation and other federal defendants to increase spill levels and implement other measures in the operation and maintenance of the Columbia River System’s dams and reservoirs to protect salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act. NWF and Oregon filed their motions after the Trump administration withdrew from a 2023 memorandum of understanding that specified interim parameters for the system’s operation. In its decision on the motion, the court rejected the federal defendants’ arguments that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case and lacked authority to enter an injunction. In considering the factors for a preliminary injunction, the court found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their arguments that the 2020 biological opinion (BiOp) for the operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) under the Endangered Species Act and the related record of decision under the National Environmental Policy Act failed for at least four reasons, including because the BiOp did not properly account for climate change in its analysis of whether FCRPS operation would jeopardize continued existence of salmonids. The court found that the federal defendants’ contention that the BiOp only needed to consider harms caused by the proposed action was “missing the crux” of the plaintiffs’ argument, which was that harm caused by the proposed action “is significantly greater when climate change is considered.” The court wrote that if FRCPS operation “kills more salmonids because they are weakened by the effects of climate change, or if the amount of salmonids killed by FCRPS operations is more of a threat to the sustainability of the species because they are dying in greater numbers due to climate change, that is the reality in which [the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)] must assess the effects of the Proposed Action.” The court found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in arguing that NMFS did not properly assess the proposed action’s effects with climate change. The court also found that the plaintiffs were likely to suffer irreparable harm without preliminary relief due to the vulnerability of salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The court further found that the balance of the equities and the public interest weighed heavily in favor of preliminary relief, citing the threats to the species and harms to the tribes of the Columbia River Basin. The court noted that it was not granting certain components of the plaintiff’s requested injunction, which would ameliorate countervailing harms identified by the defendants. The court denied the government’s request for a stay pending appeal.

Challenges to reviews of the Federal Columbia River Power System's impacts on salmon and steelhead.

National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service

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After Trump Administration Withdrawal from Columbia River System MOU, Oregon Federal Court Granted Preliminary Injunction Requiring Government to Increase Spill Levels; Failure to Consider Climate Change Cited

Filed

United States of America

Oregon

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After Trump Administration Withdrawal from Columbia River System MOU, Oregon Federal Court Granted Preliminary Injunction Requiring Government to Increase Spill Levels; Failure to Consider Climate Change Cited

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance