Court Wins for Puget Sound & Columbia River
Wins In Court for Puget Sound & Columbia River
In the space of just one hour, NWEA won two important court battles over our efforts to protect water quality and species in Puget Sound & Columbia River. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had argued that NWEA should prove our cases with our hands tied behind our proverbial backs. But two federal courts ruled that—since we are challenging the federal agency’s failure to take actions—we are not restricted in making our case to the court based solely on the documents that EPA put together for the court.
The first case pertains to EPA’s failure to prepare a clean-up plan for nitrogen in Puget Sound that is causing massive algae blooms and depleted levels of dissolved oxygen that is necessary to sustain marine life. The second case concerns EPA’s failure to ensure that Columbia River salmon and steelhead are protected from high water temperatures.
While these decisions involve esoteric aspects of legal practice, they are key to NWEA’s efforts to protect Northwest waters, and they are important to other organizations across the country that are working to force federal agencies to do their jobs.
Court Wins for Puget Sound & Columbia River
Stopping Tacoma from Harming Puget Sound Chinook Salmon
