Salmon Recovery & Implementing PTC

Salmon Recovery & Implementing PTC

Salmon Recovery & Implementing PTC. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

This morning Reps. Dan Newhouse, Mike Quigley, and Dan Lipinski along with leaders of the rail industry stood together and urged Congress to act immediately to extend the upcoming deadline for implementing positive train control or PTC safety technology and prevent a shutdown of the nation's passenger and freight rail system. The statutory deadline for the full implementation of PTC safety technology is rapidly approaching, and it is clear that our nation's passenger and freight railroads are unable to meet the deadline. To avert a major disruption that would have far reaching consequences for American commuters, businesses, and our economy, Congress must act now to extend the upcoming PTC deadline.

This was a bad year for salmon as thousands died this summer because of warmer water temperatures in Idaho's rivers. Jeff Heindel with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game says that out of the usual 2,000 migrating salmon only 45 made it all the way on their own with another 50 or so being trucked.

HEINDEL: We have language written into our NOAA permitting that has allowed us that in the event of some problem with the run and that can be for a lot of different reasons but there can be a decision that's generally made collectively. We tried it a few years ago experimentally. It worked. This was the first year that because of environmental conditions we felt it was important to get our hands on as many fish as we could, within reason. It wouldn't have been the end of the program had fish not returned.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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