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https://earthjustice.org/press/2024/ninth-circuit-decision-upholds-earlier-court-ruling-ordering-partial-removal-of-washingtons-electron-dam>
"Seattle, WA — In a vindication for the Puyallup Tribe, the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals today affirmed an earlier federal district court order requiring a
portion of the Electron dam to be removed from the Puyallup River because of
the harms caused by the dam to Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout, which
are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The decision will allow the Puyallup River to flow naturally for the first time
in more than 100 years.
The Puyallup Tribe, represented by Earthjustice, first sued Electron Hydro
under the Clean Water Act in 2020 after the company illegally discharged
artificial plastic turf and toxic crumb rubber in the river as part of a failed
construction project to rebuild the company’s aging dam. The company was trying
to build a temporary bypass channel which then ruptured, spilling the toxic
contents into the river.
During the time immediately following the turf release into the river and after
construction was halted due to the artificial turf and crumb rubber spill, the
company hastily built a “temporary” rock dam and sheet pile wall that blocked
fish passage. That blockage has remained in place despite repeated directives
from federal agencies and requests from the Tribe to remove it.
The Puyallup Tribe also sued Electron under the Endangered Species Act — for
harms to threatened fish from the operation of the water intake at the dam that
routed fish to the generation facility and resulted in fish injury and death,
and from the rock dam and sheet pile wall. Today’s ruling affirms a federal
district court victory from February of this year that agreed with the Tribe
and ordered the rock dam structure to be removed because it caused fish to swim
away from the fish ladder toward the dam that blocks their passage upstream.
Work is required by September to allow this year’s migrating adults to safely
and efficiently pass the dam.
“We are celebrating this ruling today and looking forward to seeing this
terrible rock dam structure removed soon,” said the Puyallup Tribal Council,
the Tribe’s elected governing body. “It will take years to undo the harms
Electron has caused, but this is an important start.”
“It has been an honor work[ing] with the Tribe to ensure that at long last,
salmon, trout, and other aquatic species will be able to move freely upstream
along the Puyallup River,” said Earthjustice attorney Janette Brimmer. “The
Endangered Species Act ensures that companies like Electron Hydro can’t
blatantly harm or kill threatened or endangers species, and it is good to see
the law applied and upheld.”"
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/60-ready/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
