At a early September congressional hearing in Pasco, Rep. Doc Hastings,
R-Wa, asked National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Administrator Will
Stelle to submit a letter by Oct. 1 explaining NMFS’ "interpretation
of state water rights and how those rights interact with your agency."
Hastings and other members of the Northwest congressional delegation
expressed concern at the hearing that NMFS’s flow policies for salmon,
using the authority of the Endangered Species Act, …