[7] Enviros Petition To Raise TDG Standards In Washington For More Spill

The Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition filed a petition with the Washington Department of Ecology to raise total dissolved gas standards at Columbia and Snake river dams. Such a change would allow dam operators to boost spill in forebays now limited by a 115 percent gas cap to 120 percent, a change that enviros say could add another 4 maf to spill regimes for migrating salmon.

The coalition says the boosted spill caps won't harm fish. "It's time to update the standards to meet state and federal laws and to ensure that endangered salmon and steelhead are getting what they need to survive," said Rhett Lawrence, a SOWS policy analyst, in a Mar. 1 press release that included praise for Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire for supporting a similar change in Oregon.

But it turns out that Gov. Gregoire never did submit comments or communicate in any way with the Oregon agency that is dealing with the spill waiver, said Agnes Lut, of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which solicited comments through Feb. 1. But Lut said WDFW did support an Oregon waiver in comments submitted.

Gov. Gregoire's press office confirmed the fact that she had not endorsed the request to boost the gas cap in Oregon.

The Washington Department of Ecology will study the petition over the next 60 days to determine whether it is valid, and decide if rulemaking is warranted, said Susan Braley of the DOE's water quality program. -B. R.

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