Hoopa Valley Tribe v. National Marine Fisheries Service

ORDER RE MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, MOTIONS TO STRIKE, AND MOTION TO DISMISS

INTRODUCTION

This order addresses parallel motions brought in two related cases, Yurok Tribe v. Bureau of Reclamation, No. 16-cv-6863, and Hoopa Valley Tribe v. Bureau of Reclamation, No. 16-CV-4294. The plaintiffs in these two cases are tribes and fishin'g associations, seeking to protect Southern California Northern California Coast Coho salmon in the Klamath River from negative impacts of the Klamath River Project. In both cases plaintiffs have moved for summary judgment on their first claim against the federal defendants, asserting that the defendants violated 50 C.F.R 402.16, an implementing regulation of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), by failing to reinitiate formal consultation following two years of record rates of disease among Coho salmon in the Klamath River. Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the federal defendants have violated the ESA and an injunction putting protective water flows in place to reduce disease rates while the federal defendants complete the formal consultation process.

The federal defendants and intervenor defendants oppose the motions. They have also…