Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is facing a lawsuit Thursday.  Environmentalists say FEMA did not guard threatened fish against dangers posed by development. Rob Manning reports.

Wildlife protection advocacy groups filed the lawsuit claiming that when FEMA allows development in flood plains – it’s violating endangered species protections for threatened salmon and steelhead.

Conservationists won a similar lawsuit in Washington and Florida - where FEMA claimed that the endangered species didn't apply to the flood insurance program.

Bob Sallinger with the Audubon Society of Portland says the new suit presses FEMA to do the same thing the Washington lawsuit forced. He says FEMA should ask biologists about fish impacts in Oregon. 

Bob Sallinger: “Are we jeopardizing salmon recovery, and if we are, what should we do? They haven’t asked that question in Oregon. When this was litigated in Washington, the answer came back ‘yes, you do have to consult with NOAA fisheries,' and when they did that, the answer came back that ‘yes, you are jeopardizing salmon.’ "

Sallinger says hundreds of acres of flood plain in the Portland area have been developed recently – or could be developed in the near future.

Calls to FEMA weren’t immediately returned.