Environmentalists are threatening to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its policy of requiring trees growing on levees around Puget Sound to be cut down.
The Corps is breaking the law by failing to find out whether its policy complies with Endangered Species Act for federally protected Puget Sound salmon, according to American Rivers.
The threatened lawsuit comes amid a debate between King County and the Corps over whether trees belong on levees.
King County has sought to keep some trees, arguing partly that they help salmon by creating more shade that keeps streams cool.
The Corps, citing federal safety standards, has said trees need to go before it will spend federal money on levee repairs.
A Corps spokeswoman, Patricia Graesser, said she hadn't seen the environmentalist's legal filing and couldn't comment.