Seattle PI:

Last updated September 29, 2008 9:51 p.m. PT

A building ban near rivers?

Feds call for moratorium in bid to protect salmon, orcas

By ROBERT McCLURE
P-I REPORTER

To protect salmon and orcas, federal fisheries managers are calling for a moratorium on development near rivers in the Puget Sound region.

In a potentially far-reaching decision for more than 270 municipalities, the National Marine Fisheries Service said the federal flood insurance program that protects homes and businesses built in flood plains is illegal. The reasoning: Flood insurance allows development that harms salmon and, consequently, the orcas that eat salmon. Both are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"It's a significant wake-up call to (municipalities) who might have begun to think the Endangered Species Act didn't carry a lot of implications for local land use," said Jan Hasselman, the Seattle lawyer who filed suit over the issue on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, which led to the Fisheries Service decision.

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