EPIC wins SYP case against Maxxam/PL

EPIC WINS SYP CASE

Environmentalists have prevailed in a huge and complex case that challenged the tenants of the Headwaters Deal, with a decision by Judge John Golden yesterday(5-19-03). Golden's ruling strikes down Pacific Lumber's Sustained Yield Plan, their Incidental Take Permits and their permits allowing alternation of streambeds and streambed crossings. EPIC (the Environmental Protection Information Center) and the Sierra Club filed the lawsuit in April of 1999, a month after the signing of the Headwaters Deal, challenging the legality and soundness of the Deal. A parallel lawsuit was filed at the same time by the United Steelworkers of America union, representing locked-out Kaiser Aluminum workers (subsidiary of Maxxam Corp.) challenging the same Sustained Yeild Plan (SYP) on the grounds that the timber company's plans weren't sustainable for the local economy, jobs or watersheds, either.

The case which challenged state permits (Calif. Dept. of Forestry and Dept. of Fish and Game) but not federal, finally went to trial in March of this year, after agencies stonewalled the plaintiffs with delays for four years.

This win vindicates the many people who have been opposing and protesting Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's cutting of endangered species habitat and cutting in fragile watersheds by sitting in trees, bringing testimony to agencies, occupying offices, and a myriad of other forest defense strategies. It also give support to Humboldt county D.A. Paul Gallegos' lawuit against PL, charging fraud in their negotiations of the Headwaters deal.

The Incidental Take Permits allowed Maxxam/Pacific Lumber to mow down residual habitat of the critically endangered marbled murrelet over the last year, and gave the company a rate of cut that residents, scientists, watershed activists and species advocates have been saying is unsustainable and is putting the watersheds in a state of crisis. Freshwater watershed, where five tree-sits remain, is seen by many as in a state of melt-down.

The ruling is defined as tentative, because the final decision will be rendered on June 30, but the finding is characterized as "sweeping".

Kudos are due the attorneys: lead attorney Sharon Duggan, along with attorney Brian Gaffney and BACH activist paralegal Sam Johnston.

Pasted below is the link for the article on the SF Chronicle (thank you Jane Kay). A more detailed summary of the case, the win, and the repercussions will follow after we have a chance to read the decision.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/05/20/FOREST.TMP