:;'Spilyqy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
III! Illl III , ......I . ..I. ...J. .11. I 1. 1.. il.l IIIUWII III II. II
!; Tribes oppose
I closure of fish
I passage center
December 22, 2005
I (AP) - The choice between
l'. counting pennies and counting
; fish drew heated debate in the
battle over salmon earlier this
'. i month as Indian tribes and other
fish advocates told the North-
west Power and Conservation
; Council they are worried about
the closure of the regional Fish
Passage Center.
I in 1984, four years after Con
grcss approved the Northwest
Power Act and created the re
- gional council to help balance
energy development with fish
I and wildlife protection in Or
; cgon, Idaho, Montana and
; Washington state.
". Salmon and other fish are
" counted as they travel past rc-
porung sires on me voiuiuuin
; and Snake rivers, and the data
; are sent back to the Fish Pas
! sage Center here for analysis.
Last month, Congress ap-
proved an appropriations bill
containing a provision by Sen.
; Larry Craig, R-Idaho, that cut
; funding for the center and di
', rected the council and the
' Bonneville Power Administra-
tion to find another agency or
; organization to take over the job
; within 120 days.
The Craig provision drew an
'. immediate outcry from the
. tribes, fisherman and conserva
tion groups, who accused the
; Idaho Republican of political
Davback for fiirhrini the Bush
l j o o
administration in court over
salmon policy.
"It's really disturbing to see
this legislation has come about,"
said Kathryn "Kat" Brigham,
secretary of the board of trust-
ees for the Confederated Tribes
; of the Umatilla Indian Reserva
tion. Brigham told the council that
Craig had targeted the fish cen
ter because he was unhappy that
its figures were used by U.S.
District Judge James Redden
last May to reject the $6 billion
Bush administration plan to im
prove the Columbia River Ba
sin hydroelectric system, ruling
that it failed to adequately pro
tect salmon.
"Because people didn't like
what the fish center has done,
he's (Craig) getting rid of it,"
Brigham said. "But he's wrong."
After Brigham and several
other people testified, council
members Jim Kempton and Judi
Danielson of Idaho both went
to Craig's defense, scolding
Nicole Cordan, the policy and
legal director for Save ( )ur Wild
Salmon.
"1 think you've used the
senator's name in vain,"
Danielson told Cordan after
Cordan said Craig had avoided
public debate on closing the cen
ter by attaching a rider to the
appropriations bill.
Cordan responded that,
"with due respect to the senior
senator from Idaho, 1 think he
made a big mistake ... it's clearly
a bad way to make public
policy."
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