Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation v. Bonneville Power Administration

Petitioners Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Nez Perce Tribe (collectively, Tribes), Sierra Club, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, and Idaho Rivers United (collectively, Sierra Club), and Petitioner-Intervenor State of Oregon petition for review of numerous decisions of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Petitioners argue that the BPA both exceeded its legal authority and violated its statutory duty to treat fish and wildlife equitably with power. Except as otherwise explained, we have jurisdiction over Petitioners’ timely-filed petitions under 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e). We dismiss some petitions for want of jurisdiction, and we deny the remainder on the merits.

I.

Created in 1937, BPA is the marketing authority for almost all federally generated electric power in the Pacific Northwest. 16 U.S.C. § 838f. The BPA administrator must exercise his hydroelectric power responsibilities “in a manner that provides equitable treatment” for fish and wildlife. 16 U.S.C. § 839b(h)(ll)(A)(i). Petitioners contend that BPA violated this equitable treatment mandate through twenty-two years of agency…