Tribe Sues Seattle City Lights Over Fish Passage on Skagit Dams

[Kola16]

Sorry if this has been posted, but I did not find it in the search.

https://www.goskagit.com/news/environment/sauk-suiattle-tribe-seattle-city-light-violating-rights-of-salmon-under-natural-law/article_21d854ef-4a1d-5204-b12c-0b70ec613cfe.html

For the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, the city of Seattle’s hydroelectric dams on the upper Skagit River have caused harm to tribal members, its collective tribal culture and the the tribe’s spiritual beliefs.

While lawsuits the tribe filed last year against Seattle regarding fish passage and what it believes is the city providing false information play out in county and federal courts, the tribe has filed a third lawsuit in Sauk-Suiattle Tribal Court to address its concerns over what it calls natural law.

According to the lawsuit, natural laws are unwritten and found instead in values, beliefs, practices, customs and traditions practiced and passed on through language, stories, songs, dances, ceremonies and the leadership of elders. According to the lawsuit, the three dams in Seattle’s Skagit River Hydroelectric Project were built without consultation with the tribe, inundated sites of cultural significance to the tribe, impeded salmon from advancing up the Skagit River, and resulted in a loss of spawning and rearing habitat for salmon throughout the watershed.

The lawsuit says that Seattle’s assertion that fish never migrated above its dams conflicts with longstanding tribal histories shared verbally throughout generations, and that the city’s insistence that the struggles of Skagit River salmon have to do with overfishing and estuary habitat has caused strife in the community, including a devaluing of local tribes and harassment of tribal members.

"The Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, with vocal support by the Upper Skagit Tribe, Skagit County, and others is suing Seattle City Lights in 3 different courts to get fish passage at the 3 impassable dams on the upper portion of the Skagit River. Seattle City lights refuses, saying that there is no evidence that anadromous fish used the upper portion of the river. The lawsuit filed argues Seattle City Light is operating its three hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River in a manner that violates state law and is contrary to Section 27 of the Washington state Constitution, which forbids dams from blocking fish passage, unless otherwise provisioned."

I am not sure what the rest of you think, but I hope the Tribes win this. What do you all think? Could salmon have made it through this section of river before the dams were there?

[Special T]

I love it! Seattle  being the environmental, cultural inclusive city being sued by the Tribes!  It doesnt get any better IMO.

Perhaps they can install one of those new Whoosh salmon cannons!

[grundy53]

I love it! Seattle  being the environmental, cultural inclusive city being sued by the Tribes!  It doesnt get any better IMO.

Perhaps they can install one of those new Whoosh salmon cannons!

Don't forget, they are the greenest utility in the nation! Lol. Unless you mess with their money...

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[Boss .300 winmag]

I took pics last fall of the river channel when they were spilling water over the Gorge dam, no way in hell fish went up that.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Video

[OutHouse]

That looks like fish could make it up there. Why do you think they couldn't? A friend from Alaska would catch salmon in some pretty raging and steep creeks/rivers up there.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Did you watch the video, now think about absolutely no water control on the Skagit with all the water coming down those falls.😉

[Special T]

So lets just say for arguments sake that Seattle City Light is correct and salmon couldnt het past the damn.

The environmental compassionate, culturally inclusive city is willing to piss away 230 million a year on NOT fixing the homeless problem... Howevery they are too cheap to expand the potential spawning grounds of salmon?  What about the starving orcas?  What about tribes? I mean come on you arnt willing to spread some cheddar around for all the things you profess to embrace? Dosnt seem very inclusive to me! Not willing to put you money where your mouth is
?

[HntnFsh]

Just from looking at the picture thats not much of an obstacle for fish. Especially salmon and steelhead.

[HntnFsh]

Same answer after looking at the video.

[metlhead]

We all know PS rivers don't feed Orcas. Everybody elses' rivers feed them. Good for the tribes. Sue away. To think it is about cultural damage is a joke though. Greenbacks be swimming in those rivers these days and the tribes want every last one.

[Remnar]

Same answer after looking at the video.

[Kola16]

Same answer after looking at the video.

I agree. I've seen videos of salmon and steelhead getting past worse than that. That is also a video taken at one moment in time. There are runs that happen many months out of the year at different times and different flows including low flow.

There is no evidence that anadromous fish did NOT spawn above the dams pre-dams. There ARE claims from the Native tribes that fish did spawn past the dams pre-dams. These tribes have been there for at least 8500 years.

If the tribe is correct about requiring fish passage in rivers in the WA constitution, it seems like the dams require fish passage? Regardless if there were or weren't anadromous fish above the dams pre-dams.

I was thinking the Whooshh system too. It seems like it would be the cheapest solution and satisfy all parties. There are countless miles of spawning grounds above the dams that would equate to roughly a million returning adult anadromous fish. Thats a lot of wild fish.

It seems like this "no dams without fish passage unless otherwise noted" would apply to the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams too? I would be down for more fish passage on the Columbia! Hundreds of miles of spawning habitat!

[Kola16]

What's that jump like a 6 ft. vertical?

This water is cooking too. There are lots of times in the year that the upper Skagit portion doesn't flow this fast...

[Boss .300 winmag]

The video I posted really doesn’t actually show the height and force of the water coming down that narrow gap, and the Skagit doesn’t thru there at all unless they are releasing overflow water.

It goes thru the mountain in a tunnel out the power house in Newhalem.😉