ELR Citation: 56 ELR 20019
No(s). 3:01-cv-640-SI (D. Or. Feb 25, 2026) (Simon, J.)

A district court granted motions for preliminary injunction brought by environmental groups, fishing groups, tribes, and the state of Oregon in a long-running dispute over the Army Corps of Engineers' and Bureau of Reclamation's operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System. Plaintiffs challenged the latest in a series of biological opinions (BiOps) issued by NMFS that concluded operation of the system was not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of threatened and endangered salmonids. The court had stayed the litigation after a memorandum of understanding was agreed upon in 2023. The president invalidated that agreement in 2025, and plaintiffs moved to lift the stay and sought an injunction requiring the agencies to carry out certain operational and non-operational activities with respect to the system and management of the basin. The court found plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their underlying challenge to the 2020 BiOp and thus were likely to succeed on their challenge to the 2020 record of decision that relied heavily on the BiOp. It also found the agencies' proposed action, which was largely a continuation of previous system operations found to be in violation of the ESA, not only failed to avoid irreparable harm to listed species in the basin but directly contributed to it, and that the balance of equities and public interest weighed in favor of injunctive relief. It granted plaintiffs' motions.