Tag Archives: Jaime Herrera Beutler
Report: Removing Lower Snake River dams – Bill filed to save Snake River dams.
If four Lower Snake River dams were breached to support salmon recovery, the energy, irrigation, recreation and other benefits they provide to the Pacific Northwest could be replaced for $10.3 billion to $27.2 billion, according to a draft report released Thursday by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. The report does not take a position on whether the hydropower dams should be removed, but finds that breaching offers the best chance to recover salmon runs in the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers,,, >click to read<
Republican representatives, led by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., introduced federal legislation on Thursday to protect the four lower Snake River dams from being breached. The bill was introduced just hours before a draft study commissioned by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and fellow Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, was released. The draft study concluded that it would be costly, perhaps requiring more than $27 billion, but the dams could be breached and their benefits replaced. It would be the action most likely to restore endangered salmon runs and benefit tribes, the draft study said. >click to read< 10:52
House approves bill that would allow the killing of sea lions
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday that would allow the lethal removal of sea lions in order to save endangered salmon and steelhead populations — the primary food source for the endangered Southern Resident orcas. The Senate companion bill has yet passed. The House legislation, sponsored by Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., and Kurt Schrader,D-Ore., provides tribal managers and government fish managers with the means to remove limited numbers of California and Stellar sea lions from specific areas where they are posing the most harm to endangered native fish runs. >click to read<20:11
In their battle against sea lions, fish are losing – Support The Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Protection Act
The tally doesn’t look good for steelhead and salmon on the Columbia River. Last year, sea lions devoured an estimated 9 percent of steelhead and 5 percent of spring chinook trying to make their way upstream past Bonneville Dam. Even more disconcerting, an estimated 24 percent of chinook disappeared between the mouth of the Columbia and the dam. In other words, there is a battle going on in the Columbia, and the sea lions are winning. That points out the need for Congress to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground. >click to read<12:53
Congress must act — again — to save salmon from hungry sea lions
Government agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually trying to preserve threatened salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River Basin. Yet in recent years, a growing population of hungry sea lions has jeopardized all of that investment and hard work.,, Congress needs to safeguard the public’s investment in conserving these vulnerable salmon and steelhead runs along the Columbia. Republicans and Democrats must come together this year to pass legislation making it easier to lethally remove some of the sea lions. That will mean relaxing a section of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act,,, >Click to read<11:34
Fishing for solutions through legislation
The United States Congress is currently considering legislation that could affect the management of fisheries in the Northwest and directly impact local fishing. One of the bills being considered addresses the issue of sea lion predation on endangered stocks of salmon and steelhead. Another would effectively reverse a recent judge’s decision to increase spill at Columbia River and Snake River dams to improve downstream migration. There are also two bills that would amend the Magnuson-Stevens act, which regulates ocean fisheries. The Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, or H.R. 2083, would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972., H.R. 3144, H.R. 2023, H.R. 200 >click to read<09:00
‘We’re losing’ sea lion fight – State, tribal, federal agencies back Herrera Beutler bill
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division estimates about 45 percent of spring chinook salmon are lost between the mouth of the Columbia and Bonneville Dam, with sea lions being primarily responsible.,, For that reason, the Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is supporting legislation by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., titled the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act. The bill would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to make it easier for state and tribal wildlife managers to kill sea lions that predate salmon and steelhead and other fish in the Columbia River and its tributaries. >click to read<07:28
