Tuesday April 21, 2026
YubaNet —
Today, Friends of the River filed an appeal challenging a federal court ruling that lets the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) avoid responsibility for the harm caused by its dams on the lower Yuba River. Chinook salmon, steelhead, and green sturgeon are threatened with extinction because Englebright Dam and Daguerre Point Dam block high-quality habitat, inflict harms to the species, and are not managed in compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Corps has also failed to comply with the ESA in its management of the activities of third parties the Corps has authorized to use the dams.
In a decision issued March 31, 2026, Judge Calabretta of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California got it wrong when he ruled that the Corps has no duty under the ESA to mitigate any of the dams’ adverse effects. The Court declined to hold the Corps accountable for the harms caused by the dams blocking fish passage and creating deadly conditions for juvenile fish migrating out to the ocean. He further got it wrong in ruling that the Corps need not ensure that its contracts with companies that use Englebright Dam for hydropower generation are in compliance with the ESA.