Marion County to Appeal Detroit Lake Drawdown Ruling, Seeks Emergency Stay
Marion County announced on November 4 that it will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit a federal judge's ruling allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to sharply lower the water level of Detroit Lake this fall, and will ask the appeals court for an emergency stay while the case proceeds. U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai previously denied the county's request for a preliminary injunction blocking the drawdown. Board of Commissioners Chair Colm Willis said the county was deeply disappointed but that the fight is far from over, arguing the drawdown plan threatens drinking water supplies, agriculture, fish populations and communities along the canyon. The ruling does not resolve the underlying lawsuit but allows the Corps to proceed with the first year of its new policy of annual deep drawdowns at Detroit Lake, with the first-year level dropping to a historic low and deeper drawdowns in later years. The county noted that the Corps has not completed a legally required turbidity report, and that a similar drawdown at nearby Green Peter Lake in 2023 caused a major turbidity spike and killed thousands of salmon. The county estimates the drawdown could threaten water supplies for more than 220,000 people downstream, and the Corps' own analysis shows that in a low-rainfall year combined with a deep drawdown, a water shortage could occur roughly once every four years. The county sued on May 13, 2026, seeking to halt the drawdowns until the Corps completes its turbidity assessment and takes public comment, and said it will continue pressing the case in district court to stop the deeper drawdown planned for fall 2027.
(Source: Marion County, Oregon)
Source: Marion County, Oregon
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 俄勒冈州底特律湖（图：Wikimedia Commons，CC0） / Detroit Lake, Oregon (Wikimedia Commons, CC0)
