Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Autumn Hanna, Senior Policy Analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a national budget watchdog organization on the status of the federal salmon recovery plan for the Columbia and Snake River Basin:

The federal government has spent almost a billion dollars on the salmon recovery plan with virtually nothing to show for it. Two years ago, federal taxpayers made a commitment to invest in this plan, and time is running out. We need to see a little bang for our buck.

There are too many agencies responsible for salmon recovery under this plan. This bureaucratic bungling is a classic example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Too many budgets need funding and too much money is being thrown away on boondoggles like barging fish around dams.

The study released today by the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition examining the implementation and funding of the Federal Salmon Recovery Plan gave the federal agencies charged with the plan's implementation an overall grade of F, for satisfactorily carrying out less than 30 percent of the actions called for in the plan. The plan does not include the recovery option that will get the greatest return on the taxpayers' investment: Lower Snake River dam removal.

The National Marine Fish Service estimates fully funding the salmon plan will cost $918 million dollars in FY03 with costs rising each year. Yet, it is uncertain whether the plan even if fully implemented would save endangered Snake River salmon.