Electron Hydro and its CEO last year agreed to pay more than a million dollars in fines for their illegal use of artificial turf in the Puyallup River four years ago. At the time, it was the largest fine and restitution paid for an environmental crime in Washington state legal history, according to the state Attorney General's office.
The 2023 consent decree also involved a guilty plea to a gross misdemeanor violation for operating an unlawful hydraulic project in violation of the Clean Water Act.
But the story doesn’t end there. On Tuesday, Electron Hydro’s owners will be back in court – this time in a suit brought by the Puyallup Tribe under the Endangered Species Act.
The Puyallup Tribe said Electron’s dam structures continue to harm three species of endangered fish: Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout. They’re demanding the company take out a temporary rock dam that it put up four years ago to protect its structures after it had to stop construction because of the Astroturf incident.
Lisa Anderson is the tribe’s environmental lawyer. She said the rock dam is causing fish to swim toward it and away from a fish ladder that leads to pristine habitat.
“So fish right now are attracted into an area that they can’t move past,” Anderson said.
She said the tribe has seen a steady and significant decline in their fish returns.
“And in fact, last season, we had no steelhead documented above the dam. And that’s very unusual.”
In a statement to KNKX, Electron Hydro’s owners said they’re following all the requirements for the temporary spillway and have submitted a Habitat Conservation Plan under the Endangered Species Act to eventually remove the rock dam. They’re still pursuing completion of the dam upgrades they started in 2020.
The tribe wants to shut the whole project down.
Oral arguments in the tribe’s motion for partial summary judgment will be heard before Judge John C. Coughenour in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, at 9 a.m. Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
