National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service

AMENDED OPINION

The defendants appeal the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction, based on a violation of the Endangered Species Act (or “ESA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544, requiring the United States to pass a specified amount of water through the spillgates of four dams on the Snake River, and one dam on the Columbia River during the summer months of 2005, rather than passing the water through turbines for power generation. We affirm in part and remand in part.

I

The Columbia River is the fourth largest river on the North American continent. It drains approximately 259,000 square miles, including territory in seven states and one Canadian province. It flows for more than 1,200 miles from the base of the Canadian Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. As part of the cycle of life in the Columbia River system, every year hundreds of thousands of salmon and steelhead travel up and down the river and its tributaries, hatching in fresh water, migrating downstream to the sea to achieve adulthood, and then returning upstream to spawn. The Snake River is the Columbia River’s main tributary.

As part of the modern cycle of life in the Columbia River System, each year brings litigation…