Alva Review-Courier -

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge rejected claims that a long-stalled irrigation dam in Montana would doom a primitive, endangered fish species, prompting U.S. officials to say Tuesday that a contract for the project will be awarded by the end of the year.

Judge Brian Morris ruled last week that environmental groups failed to prove there were practical alternatives to the Yellowstone River dam that will serve about 400 farmers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana.

It will include a fish passage so about 125 pallid sturgeon can reach upstream spawning grounds that they've been separated from...