Associated Press - November 10, 2009 6:24 PM ET
Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will be attending what is likely to be the last court hearing on how to run hydroelectric dams in the Columbia Basin without driving wild salmon to extinction before a ruling.
NOAA Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman said Tuesday that U.S. District Judge James Redden agreed to move the hearing to Nov. 23 in Portland to accommodate her.
Gorman says this is the first time a head of NOAA has attended a hearing in the long-running case.
An Oregon State University marine ecologist, Lubchenco has taken more interest in the issue than her predecessors. She made a trip to the Northwest listen to people involved in the issue, and announced the Obama administration's changes to the plan.
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