SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s governor says his state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appellate court ruling that requires federal Clean Water Act permits for active logging roads.
Gov. John Kitzhaber’s announcement Monday provides backing for timber owners alarmed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last summer. Environmental groups including the Northwest Environmental Defense Center support more regulation of logging roads.
The defense center filed the original lawsuit over two roads in Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest. The group says Oregon isn’t doing enough to prevent logging road runoff that clouds streams and hurts fish.
Kitzhaber says he agrees with the objective of improving logging roads. But he adds Oregon is “at a point in the history of our management of forest lands where we need to develop stability, consensus and collaboration, not management by lawsuit.”
