Posted on 09/01/2002 6:37:48 AM PDT by madfly
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 POLE POSITION: Gary Hererra, a "pond jumper" at Pacific Lumber Co.'s mill in Scotia, pushes logs through a water canal in this photo from 1999. A judge has ordered the company to temporarily halt its logging operation. Without a court-ordered stay, Judge John Golden said logging that could hurt timberlands and wildlife would continue. |
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August 31, 2002 — 2:13 a.m. The company, however, believes the order will have no immediate impact, particularly if two state agencies quickly comply with the judge's order requiring them to submit documents in a 3-year-old lawsuit. "We're not going to close down operations until and unless we get some further order," said Jared Carter, executive vice president and general counsel. "If (the state's compliance) doesn't happen quickly, it could have some impact on us," he said, but "I'm hoping that the state gets this record issue stowed away in days, not years." The Environmental Protection Information Center will go back to court as quickly as possible to get that shutdown order, said spokeswoman Cynthia Elkins. EPIC and the Sierra Club, which together brought the suit, believe Judge John Golden's order affects all timber cuts approved under the state's Headwaters agreement, which includes all Pacific Lumber's current logging operations as well as future cuts. More than 100 cuts were approved by the state last year. "It's our opinion that these logging operations would have to stop," Elkins said. "(The judge's) intent was to stop the harm during this time period, until the state gets its act together." Golden ordered the stay Thursday because he said state agencies that oversee timber harvests delayed three years before submitting a formal administrative record. The judge said that record purportedly encompasses "about 75,000 pages of material contained within 47 cardboard 'bankers boxes.' " The agencies then asked for more than 400 exemptions to the court-ordered disclosure, claiming attorney-client and other privileges. Golden said he must now begin "extensive evidentiary hearings" on those claims, including public testimony and a private review of each of those documents. "We have been doing our best to complete the record and comply with the judge's request," said Department of Forestry Deputy Director Louis Blumberg. The department submitted its final box of documents this week, but will not approve any more Pacific Lumber logging plans next week while it waits for further direction from the judge, he said. The Department of Fish and Game, also named in the suit, said it will not comment until next week, after its attorneys review the ruling. Golden rejected arguments that his stay would hurt the company and northwest California's regional economy. The ruling affects 211,000 acres owned by the Scotia-based company, Golden noted in his 14-page ruling. Without a court-ordered stay, Golden said logging that could hurt timberlands and wildlife would continue. He rejected arguments that state agencies sufficiently took those environmental concerns into account in their decisions. Under the circumstances, the judge ruled his stay "is not against the public interest, but, to the contrary, serves the public interest." Golden also rejected the company's contention that any stay requires EPIC and the Sierra Club to post a "substantial" bond to cover the company's potential losses. No such bond is needed, he ruled, in part because "the stay is issued for the protection of the public interests."
Saturday, August 31, 2002
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Environmental groups on Friday hailed a Humboldt County Superior Court judge's unexpected ruling ordering a temporary halt to logging by Pacific Lumber Co.
Talk about a scorched-earth policy, literally! These idiots would rather see the forests burn to the ground than to see a logging company make a wooden nickel from commercial logging. Letting these hypocrites dictate forestry policy has been a total disaster, and their suggestion to fix the problem is to do more of the same.
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% ( now get this...) The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
I guess we need more protected forests from lumbering. Those loggers are a dangerous bunch.
Without a court-ordered stay, Golden said logging that could hurt timberlands and wildlife would continue. He rejected arguments that state agencies sufficiently took those environmental concerns into account in their decisions.
Under the circumstances, the judge ruled his stay "is not against the public interest, but, to the contrary, serves the public interest."
Unbelievable!
Thanks for the ping.
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