SEATTLE, Aug. 31 -- The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it will not remove dams on the Columbia and Snake river system to save endangered salmon.
The announcement rules out what the federal government had once described as the most scientifically sound -- if politically problematic -- method for saving salmon in the heavily dammed river system.
As recently as four years ago, the federal agencies responsible for enforcing the Endangered Species Act had said, "Breaching the four lower Snake River dams would provide more certainty of long-term salmon survival and recovery than would other measures."
But Tuesday in Portland, Ore., the leaders of those same agencies announced that they have determined how to operate the dams in a way that "will not jeopardize fish." "Our work shows that you can achieve recovery without removing the dams," said Bob Lohn, northwest regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service."
EDIT
Gosh, that was reassuring!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50684-2004Aug31.html