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| The Clackamas River east of the Carver Boat Ramp. [Brent Wojahn/ The Oregonian] |
Oregon Court of Appeals sides with salmon in lawsuit over Clackamas River water use
By Kelly House | The OregonianJanuary 05, 2015 at 4:26 PM
The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that
the state Water Resources Department failed to limit the amount of
water cities and water districts can draw from the lower Clackamas River
so that there would be enough water left in the river for threatened
and endangered salmon.
The ruling handed down last week says the withdrawals permitted by
the department were not supported by evidence or reason. The court sent
the permits back to the department to be revised.
The permits are held by the city of Lake Oswego and water districts
serving people in Oregon City, West Linn, and northern Clackamas County.
Attorney Lisa Brown of the conservation group WaterWatch, which
brought the lawsuit, says there is plenty of water to draw on in the
area without threatening salmon.
--The Associated Press
From OCTU Council Chair:
This is awesome. Even though we may not always agree with Water
Watch, they definitely got it right. The water providers trying to
develop the unused water rights did not have a reasonable argument
regarding leaving enough water in the river for fish. They pinned their
hopes on additional releases from Timothy lake to make up the
difference but PGE is very restricted on what they can release due to
their license requirements, especially in the July-Sept period.
T2
Terry Turner | Oregon Council Chair
