The timber industry is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will
maintain business as usual on controlling muddy water running off
logging roads into salmon streams.
The high court decided Monday to take up a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that federal regulators should treat stormwater on industrial timberlands the same as pollution discharged from a factory, changing the longstanding practice that treats it like water coming off farm fields.
The ruling on an Oregon case would apply to logging roads on state, private and national forest lands throughout the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit, which covers much of the West. Most of the roads are graveled, but some are paved or bare dirt.
Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, said increased regulation would cost money and offer conservation groups new opportunities for blocking logging without producing any cleaner water.
"Over the years, we have been able to continually improve our practices as we have learned more about the environment," he said in a statement. "Water flowing from our forests is high quality,"
Paul Kampmeier, a lawyer for the Washington Forest Law Center, which represents conservationists, said the high court was presented with arguments urging them to take up the case from 26 states, including Oregon, as well as the timber industry.
"I think the defendant, or the petitioners now, did a very good job of making it sound like the sky is falling," if the ruling stands, Kampmeier said. "Congress is political, and there is political pressure on EPA...I think we will get a fair and impartial ruling from the Supreme Court."
The appeals court ruled in 2010 that the muddy water running off roads used in industrial logging is the same as any other industrial pollution, requiring a Clean Water Act permit from EPA. Scientists have long identified sediment running into salmon streams from erosion as a leading cause of habitat loss because it chokes off the gravel beds where salmon lay their eggs.
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHbwhs0fpPQXkZ_p3G6hAv_XWwNw
The high court decided Monday to take up a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that federal regulators should treat stormwater on industrial timberlands the same as pollution discharged from a factory, changing the longstanding practice that treats it like water coming off farm fields.
The ruling on an Oregon case would apply to logging roads on state, private and national forest lands throughout the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit, which covers much of the West. Most of the roads are graveled, but some are paved or bare dirt.
Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, said increased regulation would cost money and offer conservation groups new opportunities for blocking logging without producing any cleaner water.
"Over the years, we have been able to continually improve our practices as we have learned more about the environment," he said in a statement. "Water flowing from our forests is high quality,"
Paul Kampmeier, a lawyer for the Washington Forest Law Center, which represents conservationists, said the high court was presented with arguments urging them to take up the case from 26 states, including Oregon, as well as the timber industry.
"I think the defendant, or the petitioners now, did a very good job of making it sound like the sky is falling," if the ruling stands, Kampmeier said. "Congress is political, and there is political pressure on EPA...I think we will get a fair and impartial ruling from the Supreme Court."
The appeals court ruled in 2010 that the muddy water running off roads used in industrial logging is the same as any other industrial pollution, requiring a Clean Water Act permit from EPA. Scientists have long identified sediment running into salmon streams from erosion as a leading cause of habitat loss because it chokes off the gravel beds where salmon lay their eggs.
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHbwhs0fpPQXkZ_p3G6hAv_XWwNw
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