confidence' NevertheJess. if signlfrcant new informationwere available, section 1400 

 provides a process for amendment. 



The 5 to 11 million range represents the upper limits of the hydropower system's 

 responsibility for the loss of adult salmon and steelhead. These limits may never be 

 achieved because of biological, socio-economic or other limits on fish production. The 

 hydropower responsibility is not an absolute obligation that requires full compensation. 

 The Northwest Power Act requires a program to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and 

 wildlife and their habitat. Monetary compensation for injury to fish and wildlife is not 

 implied or warranted under the Councils program. 



The Council does not purport to quantify any legal obligation of the hydropower 

 system to individual parties, including any Indian tribes. The estimated hydropower 

 responsibility of 5 to 11 million adult salmon and steelhead is incorporated into the program 

 as a cap. It does not constitute a judgment that even the bottom end of the hydropower 

 responsibility range can or will be achieved through the program. Increases in the salmon 

 and steelhead runs will come through specific program measures, consistent with the 

 system policies and coordinated in large part in a subbasin planning process (see sections 

 203 and 204). If those measures achieve run sizes comparable to the bottom end of the 

 hydropower responsibility range, the Council may review its statement of the hydropower 

 ratepayers' share of responsibility for protecting, mitigating, and enhancing salmon and 

 steelhead runs under the Council's program. 



As long as the hydropower system continues to exist, its responsibility to salmon and 

 steelhead will continue. Moreover, any new hydropower development (at new projects or 



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