Earthrise Law Center is continuing its long-standing collaboration with Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) to protect endangered salmon and steelhead migration routes in the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. This case marks the fourth lawsuit in a series of NWEA victories requiring federal agencies to put adequate thought and protections in place for salmonids. Specifically, Earthrise is challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to approve Oregon’s temperature Water Quality Standards pursuant to the Clean Water Act, a decision approved in part by EPA’s reliance on a flawed Biological Opinion published by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
The Pacific Northwest’s iconic salmonid species—including salmon and steelhead—rely on Oregon’s rivers and tributaries for spawning, rearing, and migration. Temperature is the single most important biological factor for salmon and steelhead, necessary for their survival. Unfortunately, today most Oregon rivers are too warm to support these species. Elevated river temperatures affect salmonid spawning, increase disease rates, and cause mortality.
In 2015, about 250,000 adult sockeye salmon died in the Columbia and Snake Rivers because warm water prevented them from successfully migrating upstream. In addition to warm tributaries, they must also migrate through the severely overheated Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Historically, salmonids depended on being able to find areas of cold-water refuge (often called “cold water refugia”), but these cold-water refugia are disappearing. For decades, as river temperatures have risen from poor land use management, direct discharges, and other sources of temperature pollution—as well as climate change—federal and state agencies have failed to protect and restore cold water refugia.
Prior legal victories by Earthrise and NWEA forced agencies to acknowledge the importance of protecting cold water refugia and to recognize that Oregon’s rivers no longer meet necessary temperature standards. However, the latest Biological Opinion merely requires EPA and the State of Oregon to study existing refugia rather than implement enforceable protections. Despite the development of a Cold Water Refuge Plan, its lack of regulatory authority has left salmonids vulnerable.
Earthrise and NWEA have now brought a new lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act to compel the EPA and NMFS to take concrete, science-backed action. The case underscores the ongoing need for regulatory accountability and timely intervention to ensure that cold water refugia—and the species that rely on them—are not lost to warming waters.
