CGNW files suit against Army Corps

Communities for A Great Northwest has informed the Department of Interior and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it intends to file a lawsuit regarding management of Libby Dam.

The group is being represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation.

In its letter to 12 federal officials, including the secretary of the Interior Department and the Corps' commander, CGNW said the Corps' planned action to release water to save endangered sturgeon, as contained in a recent environmental statement, would violate the Endangered Species Act, federal water quality standards and threatens both private and community properties.

Last month, the Corps was forced to release up to 55,000 cubic-feet per second from the dam, including 30,000 cfs from the spillway, after Lake Koocanusa reached full pool and it rained heavily in June. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists found extensive damage to the fishery in the river downriver as a result of the spill.

As a result of a lawsuit by environmental groups, the Corps is reevaluating its operations at Libby and Hungry Horse Dams as those operations related to endangered species downstream. In November 2005, the Corps indicated in a draft environmental statement that it was willing to release 25,000 cfs or powerhouse capacity. In a final EIS released in April 2006 - Upper Columbia Alternative Flood Control and Fish Operations final Environmental Impact Statement - the Corps determined it could release 35,000 cfs with 10,000 from the spillway.

"Not only is the rate proposed by the Corps 10,000 cfs above the capacity of the powerhouse, a similar effort by the Corps in 2002 flooded several Libby properties and killed fish, including endangered bull trout, in the Kootenai River below Libby Dam," said Bruce Vincent, director of CGNW. In a nutshell, the plan suggested by the Corps as an answer to its lost lawsuit is bad for fish, bad for people and bad for the economy."

Local businessmen and river-front property owners Terry Andreessen and John Johanson threaten to sue the Corps if they proceeded toward spilling because of property damage they each sustained after the 2002 spill. The final EIS indicates that under      the preferred management regime, 50 percent of future years will include spills as large as those as 2002, Andreessen said.

"Managing the dam in such a manner leaves no margin for error," he said. "We will be looking at year after of threats like the floods of this spring.

Johanson couldn't agree more.

"This year was a classic look at the future," he said. "The reservoir entered the spring runoff season with too little margin for weather events, the reservoir filled and the Corps was forced to release torrents of water from weather events and under the final EIS we'll be looking at this scenario every year."

Libby resident believe the threat to them and their property as a result of the Corps' plan have not been considered by the federal government, said William Perry Pendley of the Mountain States Legal Foundation.

"The people of Libby, Montana, were stunned to learn the Corps of Engineers were pressing forward with its plans to release water levels that would flood portions of the town and the homes of some residents," Pendley said.

While there was no flooding to the towns in Montana, numerous properties in the Libby and Troy area sustained considerable damage by the high water in the river. And there was extensive flooding in Bonners Ferry, especially to agricultural lands and the dikes protecting them.