June 5, 2014 — A group of fishing and conservation organizations have filed a petition in the 9th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging BPA's Record of Decision that approved NOAA Fisheries' 2014 hydro BiOp.
The groups had earlier filed a notice of intent to sue Action Agencies over the ROD, and the petition is the next step in the process. Among other things, it says BPA erred by not completing a new EIS before approving the 2014 BiOp because of "new information" about climate change and the value of spill on juvenile fish survival.
"New species of salmon and steelhead have been listed as threatened or endangered," says the petition, "approximately 10,000 megawatts of new power generation has been added to the grid in the past ten years, and the value of navigation on the Snake River has declined significantly. None of this significant new information and much more, or the substantial changes in the environmental context or circumstances of FCRPS operations, were considered in any of the EISs or other NEPA documents referenced in BPA's 2014 ROD."
The petition also says that BPA should have known that the 2008, 2010 and 2014 BiOps were invalid because of the agency's "integral role" in developing them, and by relying on them, BPA fails to comply with substantive requirements of the ESA to avoid jeopardy and adverse modification of critical habitat.