Judge orders changes to Columbia and Snake river dam operations to help 'disappearing' salmon
Water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Wash., April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios, File)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon has ordered narrow changes to hydropower dam operations on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest in order to help salmon, saying the Trump administration's plans for the massive structures would harm salmon runs that are “disappearing from the landscape.”
The ruling late Wednesday came in a decades-long legal effort by the states of Oregon and Washington, Native American tribes, and conservation and fishing groups to ensure better protections for migrating salmon, which are killed in large numbers by the dams.
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