Regional Water Board to Consider Logging Levels in Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's Impaired Waters

IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEARING! ATTENDANCE NEEDED!

DATE: Wednesday, March 16, 2005

TIME: The hearing will begin at 9 am. Come early to get a seat!
We recommend being there by 8 am. See http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/northcoast/agenda/03_2005/03_2005.html for the agenda.

PLACE: North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
5550 Skylane Blvd., Suite A, Santa Rosa (directions below)

Regional Water Board to Consider Logging Levels in Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's Impaired Watersheds

On Wednesday, March 16, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) will hold a public hearing in Santa Rosa to consider demands by Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Co. (PL) for authorization to conduct extensive logging in two of its severely fractured watersheds, Elk River and Freshwater Creek. These watersheds, listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act, are already seriously damaged by landslides and sedimentation caused by PL logging. Downstream residents, human and other species alike, have for many years suffered the effects, including severe flooding, loss of clean drinking water, and habitat decimation.

At this important hearing, the Board will decide to either uphold or overturn a February 25 decision by NCRWQCB Executive Officer Catherine Kuhlman to allow 50% of the logging the company had been pressuring the agency to approve. That decision was made after a hearing in Eureka when Kuhlman heard testimony from both PL officials and watershed residents. (see BACH 2/21 AND 2/26 alerts).

Maxxam/PL, threatening dire economic consequences without its high levels of logging, wants to use the General Waste Discharge Requirements (GWDRs), which were designed for normally functioning watersheds, as a loophole so they can log trees in the impaired watersheds. In late February, the NCRWQCB's Executive Officer enrolled 50% of the timber it sought in the two impaired watersheds under the GWDRs, an obvious response to political pressure brought by PL.

Watershed activists and other concerned members of the public will demand at the hearing in Santa Rosa that the Board rescind this decision and allow no more logging in these watersheds without specific scientific assurance that the watersheds will be protected. These assurances must be developed through the more site-specific Watershed-Wide Waste Discharge Requirements (WWWDRs), which the NCRWQCB decided in 2003 were necessary for these watersheds. Because PL failed to provide requested landslide data the NCRWQCB has been unable to complete that process and appears poised to reward PL for its deliberate delay.

A strong, positive showing by concerned members of the public will help counterbalance Pacific Lumber's anticipated presentation in support of its destructive logging. Let the Water Board know that the public supports good science in the service of the recovery of these watersheds, not Pacific Lumber's political "tobacco" science!

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE COME TO SANTA ROSA on Wednesday the 16th, and *encourage* our friends at the Water Board to do the right thing and deny PL Lumber additional Timber Harvest Plans without assurance that they will not cause further degradation of the watersheds.

We will demand:
- No more THPs in Elk or Freshwater until adequate WWWDRs have been developed;
- Support real peer-reviewed science to inform decision making over Timber Harvest Plans in impaired and sensitive watersheds;
- Support policies and programs that reverse degradation and promote sufficient recovery trends to restore the beneficial uses of water in these watersheds.

You can submit WRITTEN COMMENTS, but they should be in by 5 pm MONDAY MARCH 14 to be considered. Reference agenda item #7 (Whether to direct the Executive Officer to enroll additional Timber Harvesting Plans in Elk River and Freshwater Creek watersheds under Order No. R1-2004-0030, General Water Discharge Requirements for Discharges Related to Timber Harvest Activities on non-Federal Lands.)
Fax to (707) 523-0135 or email to rklamt at waterboards.ca.gov

Directions:
Hwy. 101 north to Santa Rosa. At the north end of S.R., take the Airport Blvd. exit, go RIGHT on Skylane to 5550. Aprox. 60 miles north of Berkeley/Oakland/SF

CALL THE BACH OFFICE TO CARPOOL! 510-548-3113
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Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH)

2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
phone: 510 548 3113
email: bach at headwaterspreserve.org

http://www.HeadwatersPreserve.org