EUGENE, Ore. (CN) — Oregon’s capital city and other municipalities failed to convince a federal judge to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from lowering water levels in Detroit Lake.
“The court shares plaintiffs’ concerns about the threats posed by the possibility of high turbidity and inadequate refill to their interests, and to the interests of the many people, communities and businesses that rely on a clean and adequate water supply from the North Santiam River downstream of the Detroit Dam and Reservoir,” U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai wrote. “But ‘possibility’ is not ‘likelihood,’ and the law requires parties seeking injunctive relief to demonstrate that the irreparable harm they fear is ‘likely’ to occur.”
Earlier this year, the Army Corps finalized a supplemental environmental impact statement for the system of 13 federally operated dams and reservoirs it operates throughout the Willamette River Basin in Oregon, proposing to gradually lower the Detroit Reservoir to an elevation of 1,395 feet during late fall and early winter. The minimum conservation pool is 1,450 feet…