78 



and tnbaJ fishery agencies have ndTdemonstrated the requisite scientific expertise on TDG to 

 render informed judgments on this question. (Tab 13.)' We note that the agencies have 

 been aware of these deficiencies for over two months, and have deferred responding until the 

 very close of the public comment period. 



4. A massive spill program is umiecessary to achieve NMFS' goal of passing 

 80% of salmon around turbines. As Dr. Ebel explains, NMFS and the states and tribes 

 have erroneously assumed that the percentage of fish passed over a spillway is identical to 

 the percentage of water spilled. Several studies deny this assumption, and indicate that 

 almost all salmon can be passed around the turbines with much lower levels of spill that do 

 not require water quality variances. (Tab 8. at 7-8.) The Snake River Salmon Recovery 

 Team, keenly aware of the problems associated with high spill levels, has concluded that 

 "spill is not a suitable long term recovery method". (Tab 15, at 2.)' 



5. The proposed monitoring is inadequate. The U.S. Army Corps of 

 Engineers. BPA and the Snake River Salmon Recovery Team all recommend that "any spill 

 program should be biised on TDG level measured in the tailrace of each dam". (Tab 14, 



at 4; Tab 15, at 2.) NMFS, however, wants TDG measured in the forebays of the dams and 

 at downnver monitonng stations showing consistently lower TDG measurements (Tab 8, at 



'NMFS does have scientists with the requisite expertise, but we doubt they will appear in 

 these proceedings. NMFS' scientists offered lukewarm support at best for an instantaneous 

 limit of 120% of saturation (Tab 1, at 3 (such a standard "could be adopted on a temporary 



basis"). 



^This comment is contained in a letter to NMFS endoning the January 25th diafi 

 biological opinion. When the Team learned that NMFS had increased spill and decreased 

 transportauon in the face of threats of litigation and political pressure from the state and 

 tnbal fishery agencies, the Chairman of the Team indicated that the Team's endorsement was 

 no longer valid. (Tab 16.) 



