For the first time in nearly a century, water will flow freely along a portion of the Puyallup River.
On Friday, District Court Judge John C. Coughenour ruled that energy company Electron Hydro must remove part of a temporary rock wall at the Electron Dam site. The ruling came in response to the Puyallup Tribe's latest lawsuit against Electron Hydro's owners.
The court found that the structure harms three endangered species: Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. In an unusual twist, the judge issued his ruling after a rare in-person visit to see the structure on Thursday. The tribe’s vice chair, Sylvia Miller, helped show him around.
“It's amazing that that judge come up there, and really got to see what we're talking about: what should be there, what shouldn't be there. None of that man-made stuff, “ she said. “This is mother nature's gift to us. And we need to protect it and preserve it, and leave it alone.”
Miller said there was no wildlife visible during the visit, despite the remote location near Mt. Rainier National Park. She said the tribe will continue to push for complete dam removal.
The tribe’s environmental attorney Lisa Anderson said in more than 25 years of practice, she has never had a judge request or take part in a site visit. But she said it allowed him to really see the details of what they had been trying to describe in court documents and photos.
“He was looking at the rock dam – how it all worked and how the flows were working and the fish ladder,” she said. Inside, she said it was clear to see that the fish could not get through.
“You could see dry rocks blocking any sort of passage. Fish were not going to get over that sediment in there. And that's a recurring theme because of the nature of the river and the way it's been manipulated.”
The judge ruled in favor of the Tribe’s alternative suggestion for partial removal of the rock wall, by September 15, and ordered the defendants to apply for the necessary permits within 10 days.
Electron Hydro did not respond to a request for comment, but has said in the past that it’s still working to complete the dam upgrades started in 2020. That’s when a whistleblower revealed the company’s illegal use of artificial turf in the Puyallup River. The tribe said remnants of the material continue to show up all over the river.
