FW: [NFPA] JUDGE ORDERS USDA TO SEARCH AGAIN FOR INFO ON PLANNING REGS

 
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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Andrew George
Sent: April 03, 2004 7:08 AM
To: NFPA News
Subject: [NFPA] JUDGE ORDERS USDA TO SEARCH AGAIN FOR INFO ON PLANNING
REGS



Greenwire


April 1, 2004 Thursday


JUDGE ORDERS USDA TO SEARCH AGAIN FOR INFO ON PLANNING REGS

Dan Berman, Greenwire reporter

A federal judge Tuesday ordered the Agriculture Department office that
oversees the Forest Service to take a second crack at turning over
documents related to the suspension of Clinton-era regulations governing
land and resource management plans for all of the nation's 192 million
acres of national forest.

Defenders of Wildlife and the Endangered Species Coalition sued USDA and
the Forest Service in October 2002, seeking a response to a Freedom of
Information Act request for documents on the planning rule changes and
records of meetings between agency officials and timber industry groups.
Environmentalists say the Bush administration's proposed changes to the
planning regulations closely mirrored timber industry complaints about
the Clinton rule. 

But the office of Mark Rey, Agriculture undersecretary for Natural
Resources and Environment, said it had nothing to give the environmental
groups on the issue -- no records, documents or memoranda.

"The biggest rewrite of our nation's forest management policies ever
undertaken and the man responsible for it has no records whatsoever?
Absolutely ridiculous," said Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger
Schlickeisen, comparing the situation to the fight over documents from
Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. "The inescapable
conclusion is that the Bush administration has something to hide."

On Tuesday, Judge Ricardo Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia ordered the Agriculture Department to take a second
look for any relevant documents in the office of Natural Resources and
Environment, specifically from the office of Agriculture Deputy
Undersecretary David Tenny. Urbina noted the record shows no indication
that Tenny performed any search for documents before telling the
environmental groups his office had none.

"We feel like we got the big brush off from the Department of
Agriculture," said Mike Leahy, natural resources counsel for Defenders.
"They claim the office that oversees the Forest Service didn't have a
single document, not even an e-mail or calender entry" on the planning
rule changes, Leahy added.

The Bush administration suspended the Clinton-era regulations in early
2001 and is now in the final stages of drafting a final rule. The rules
under the National Forest Management Act mandate how the Forest Service
develops and revises land and resource management plans, dictating
activities such as timber harvesting, recreation and wildlife
management. Environmentalists generally welcomed the Clinton
regulations, which were designed to place ecological sustainability
above social and economic concerns; they fear any changes could open the
door to logging or other activities.

Jennifer Plyler of the office of Natural Resources and Environment
acknowledged the office told Defenders it had no relevant documents to
turn over from the FOIA request, but could not say why it had no
documents for a process in which it is deeply involved.

The Forest Service, however, did turn over 166 pages of documents to
Defenders, some of which show direct involvement of Rey in suspending
the Clinton-era regulations, according to Leahy. "It bolsters our claim
that his office was directly involved in that process and should have
some records of it," Leahy said.

Nevertheless, the Forest Service withheld over 600 pages from Defenders'
FOIA request, often with vague descriptions of the documents and reasons
the agency chose to invoke FOIA exemptions. Judge Urbina agreed with
Defenders and said that the agency should go back and provide more
detail and "illuminate" the contents of the withheld documents.

As for the planning rule changes, Rey told a Senate panel last month the
administration is "significantly modifying" the draft regulations and
hopes the new proposal is better received than earlier versions. Rey did
not say what the new proposed planning rule would look like, but he told
members that the Forest Service has not determined if it will offer the
rule as a final regulation or as a re-proposed draft rule. An
announcement is expected this spring, Plyler said.

"It will be a sporting discussion," Rey said. "I imagine we'll satisfy
some of the critics of the proposed rule, but I'm quite confident we
won't satisfy all of them" (Greenwire, March 3).

A final draft of the planning rule changes leaked to the media last
summer showed the administration is considering barring individual
forest managers from conducting environmental reviews when they update
forest management plans.

"Because a plan establishes only a framework for future decisions
regarding management activities, environmental analysis undertaken for a
plan, plan amendment or plan revision cannot completely disclose future
site-specific environmental effects of management activities," the final
draft states. "Agency resources are better directed to a balance of
planning, on-the-ground management, and comprehensive monitoring and
evaluation" (Land Letter, Oct. 2, 2003).

 

 

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Andrew George
Campaign Coordinator
National Forest Protection Alliance
PO Box 215
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0215
ph: 919 933 3073
cell: 828 280 6956
[email protected]
Not a member?  Join NFPA today at www.forestadvocate.org

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