59 



Mr. Stelle. Senator, I don't know. I think it's quite comfortable 

 there. I don't know what the historical origins of that circumstance 

 are though. 



Senator Kempthorne. Is it also accurate though that one of the 

 primary charges of the National Marine Fisheries Service is to as- 

 sure the harvest of the fish in the ocean, which is a large business 

 program for the United States? 



Mr. Stelle. I would not state it that way, sir. I think one of the 

 primary responsibilities for the Service is the proper husbandry of 

 our fishery resources, a component of which is harvest, but only a 

 small component. I think if you talk to some in the fishing indus- 

 try, they might say that our job is not harvesting. 



Senator Kempthorne. That's interesting because that is a little 

 different than what a previous spokesman for National Marine 

 Fisheries Service said at a prior hearing that really, one of the pri- 

 mary purposes is to support that business of this country, which 

 is the fish that are harvested. This is a large economic benefit to 

 the United States. 



Mr. Stelle. Yes. I was speaking from a fisheries management 

 perspective, sir. I didn't want to leave the impression that our pri- 

 mary job from a fisheries management perspective was to catch 

 fish; it was to manage fisheries for long-term sustainability. 



Senator Kempthorne. I have a copy of a letter dated May 26, 

 1995 from Langden March, the Oregon Department of Environ- 

 mental Quality, detailing 30 violations of the spill standard from 

 April 26th to May 16th. Are you familiar with this letter? 



Mr. Stelle. Yes, Senator, I am. 



Senator Kempthorne. Again, based on this when I consider 

 whether or not this was a well-controlled spill, should I ignore this 

 letter or is there basis for this letter? 



Mr. Stelle. No, vou shouldn't ignore it and yes, there is a basis 

 for it. The source of those violations, sir, is to my knowledge largely 

 a large volume of fresh water coming off in big flows this spring 

 that well exceeded the capacity of a couple of the projects to man- 

 age that water. It had nothing to do with NMFS voluntary spill 

 program. Particularly at one of the projects at Ice Harbor, the river 

 nas been running at 120, 130, 140 thousand cubic feet per second 

 and yet the hvdraulic capacity or the ability of the project to pass 

 water safely through the turbines is limited to about 66 kefs. That 

 means that about naif your river is going over your spillway and 

 generating very high levels of gas. Those, I believe, sir, are either 

 the exclusive or most of the violations which the Oregon letter cites 

 and they are correct, it's a problem. It's a significant problem. It 

 is not part of the Service's voluntary spill program though. 



Senator Kempthorne. I will make that letter a part of this 

 record. 



[The letter and supporting documents follow:] 



