Just how dysfunctional and anti-environment our federal government has become during the seeming endless tenure of BushCo was made perfectly clear this week in Portland, Oregon. Federal District Judge James Redden threw out the third endangered salmon recovery plan submitted by government attorneys, saying that the latest plan was weaker than the previous two. Judge Redden even mentioned the nightmare scenario for private enterprise: a Columbia River dam system run by the federal court to force compliance with the Endangered Species Act. You can imagine the waves of fear crawling up the spines of developers, utility executives, and agribusinessmen upon hearing such unimaginable mitigation actions such as flow increases, reservoir draining and, shudder to think, dam removal. Relatively cheap hydroelectricity is the life blood of the Northwest.
Judge Redden should be praised for using his life tenure status for something other than long lunches and rounds of golf. He is unflinchingly applying the law as it was intended. No doubt there is considerable pressure to submit to the Regime's extreme bias in favor of business interests. Judge Redden realizes there are natural assets worth saving, even if the bottom line is reduced.