From Crosscut: “So you’re a salmon heading upstream this fall. It hasn’t rained much for months. The water is low. You reach a culvert that takes the stream under a state highway. The culvert was installed higher than it should have been. In February, water may gush through the pipe. But now, when the water level is low, it doesn’t even reach the pipe. Guess you won’t be spawning this year. Or any year. Sorry about that.
“Now — too late for you, but maybe not for the relatives that will try to spawn in later years — the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided the state must do more toward fixing its hundreds of culverts.
“The court affirmed a lower court decision ordering the state to replace its worst salmon-killing culverts that block passage upstream for the fish. A unanimous three-judge panel held that the culverts violate federal treaties signed with Washington tribes.
“When the 9th Circuit ruled for the feds and tribes on appeal, it scathingly rejected the state’s arguments and even its math. For one thing, the court found the state’s cost estimates — running to $1.9 billion — were “dramatically overstated.”
Click here for the full article.