FERC Attempts to Protect Platte River

To protect the riparian habitat of several threatened and endangered species along Nebraska's Platte River, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently, and for the first time, imposed conservation restrictions on an annual license for the operation of a hydropower and irrigation project. In May of 1989, the court in Platte River Whooping Crane Habitat Maintenance Trust v. FERC ruled that FERC's refusal to review environmental conditions for annual license issuance amounted to an abuse of its regulatory discretion. Following this ruling, FERC has not only accepted the advice of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and the Platte River Trust regarding the deleterious effects of two dam and diversion projects on downstream inhabitants, but also amended one of the project's annual licenses to protect several more threatened birds.