Idaho Department of Fish & Game v. National Marine Fisheries Service

In this second of three related cases, 1 we must decide whether the National Marine Fisheries Service complied with its duties under the Endangered Species Act, specifically with respect to its approval of the 1993 Operations Plan for the hydropower system on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

I

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (“BuRec”), and the Bonneville Power Administration (“BPA”) jointly manage the dams, reservoirs, and other facilities in the Columbia and Snake River Basin that constitute the Federal Columbia River Power System (the “FCRPS”). The Corps and BuRec operate the dams while BPA markets the hydroelectric power generated by the FCRPS.

As we have discussed elsewhere, “it is generally accepted that the Basin’s hydro-power system is a major factor in the decline of some salmon and steelhead runs to a point of near extinction.” N.W. Resource Info. Ctr. v. N.W. Power Planning Council, 35 F.3d 1371 , 1376 (9th Cir.1994) (quotation omitted). In 1980, in the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act, 16 U.S.C. § 837 et seq., Congress reacted to the rapidly diminishing salmon populations by directing BPA and…