Fisheries Service Survey of Permits’ Effect on Salmon Incomplete

The National Marine Fisheries Service will have to prepare an environmental impact statement and a new biological opinion after a district court said the agency failed to consider the effects several permits could have on the endangered coho salmon.

Documents evaluating landowners’ impact on the salmon population were incomplete in violation of environmental laws, Judge Trina L. Thompson said.

The Environmental Protection Information Center sued after the Fisheries Service approved 20-year permits based on safe harbor policies that allow landowners to evade liability for harming endangered or threatened species as long as they agree to voluntary conservation measures, and the ...