Supreme court agrees to hear dispute over California forest plan
Source: Reuters
Supreme court agrees to hear dispute over California forest plan
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:08am EDT
(Reuters) - Supreme Court justices on Monday agreed to consider whether an environmental group could challenge a management plan for a national forest in the Sierra Nevada.
The Obama administration had asked the court to overturn an appeals court ruling that allowed the environmental group, Pacific Rivers Council, to question a 2004 management plan for 11 national forests in the mountain range.
In the subsequent ruling, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the group, saying the Forest Service had failed to properly analyze how the plan would affect fish, a requirement under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The Obama administration argued that the group did not have legal standing to challenge the plan in the first place. That is because the plan itself does not authorize site-specific projects, government lawyers said. Therefore, the environmental group cannot cite any specific injury caused by the plan, they argued. The administration says the group may be able to sue at a later date, once site-specific plans have been issued.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/18/us-usa-court-environment-idUSBRE92H0K120130318
= new reply since forum marked as read
> The Obama administration had asked the court to overturn an appeals court ruling that allowed
> the environmental group, Pacific Rivers Council, to question a 2004 management plan for 11 national
> forests in the mountain range.
Yet another thing that was neither "Hope" nor "Change" ... sticking to the Bush business plans again ...
