United States Ninth Circuit

In an environment dispute involving salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a district court's decision rejecting a 2004 biological opinion addressing the effects of proposed operations of Federal Columbia River Power System dams and facilities on the listed fish is affirmed where: 1) the district court correctly held that the opinion's jeopardy analysis was structurally flawed, rendering it incompatible with ESA; 2) the opinion's analysis of impacts on critical habitat was defective as well; and 3) on the record, requiring consultation with states and tribes constituted a permissible procedural restriction rather than an impermissible substantive restraint, and there was no abuse of discretion in such remedy. (Amended opinion)

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/01/2006
• Decided 04/24/2008
• Published 04/24/2008

Judges

• THOMAS, Circuit Judge., Before TASHIMA, THOMAS, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Howard G. Arnett, Karnopp Petersen, LLP, Bend, Oregon;  David J. Cummings, Nez Perce Tribe, Lapwai, Idaho;  Christopher B. Leahy, Fredericks, Pelcyger & Hester, LLC, Louisville, CO;  Tim Weaver, Law Offices of Tim Weaver, Yakima, WA, for amici curiae Treaty Tribes., Robert D. Thornton and Paul S. Weiland, Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott, LLP, Irvine, CA, for amicus curiae National Association of Homebuilders., Rob McKenna, Attorney General, and Michael S. Grossman, Assistant Attorney General, State of Washington, Olympia, WA, for amicus curiae State of Washington., John C. Bruning, Attorney General, David D. Cookson, Assistant Attorney General, State of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE;  Thomas R. Wilmoth, Special Assistant Attorney General, Fennemore Craig, P.C., Lincoln, NE, for amicus curiae State of Nebraska., James L. Buchal, Murphy & Buchal LLP, Portland, OR, for amicus curiae Columbia Snake River Irrigators Association., Russell C. Brooks, Bellevue, Washington;  M. Reed Hopper and Scott A. Sommerdorf, Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, CA, for amicus curiae Washington Farm Bureau Federation.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mark Eames, NOAA Office of General Counsel, Seattle, WA;  Gayle Lear, Assistant Division Counsel, Northwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland, OR;  Kelly A. Johnson, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Fred Disheroon, Ruth Ann Lowery, Ellen J. Durkee, and Jennifer L. Scheller, Attorneys, Environment & Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington D.C., for the federal defendants-appellants., Matthew A. Love and Sam Kalen, Van Ness Feldman, P.C., Seattle, WA, for defendant-appellant BPA Customer Group., Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Clive J. Strong, Deputy Attorney General, and Clay R. Smith, Deputy Attorney General, State of Idaho, Boise, ID, for defendant-intervenor-appellant State of Idaho., Todd D. True and Stephen D. Mashuda, Earthjustice, Seattle, WA;  Daniel J. Rohlf, Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center, Portland, OR, for plaintiff-appellee National Wildlife Federation., Hardy Myers, Attorney General, Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General, David E. Leith, Assistant Attorney General, and Stephen K. Bushong, State of Oregon, Salem, OR, for plaintiff-intervenor-appellee State of Oregon.