Federal Court Issues Decision to Protect National Forests and Wildlife, Rejects Bush-Era Rules

Sierra Club and its allies achieved a major victory for the environment when on June 30, 2009 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California overturned the Bush Administration’s last attempt to weaken rules governing management of America’s national forests and wildlife. A coalition of environmental groups initially challenged the 2008 Bush rule because it repealed key protections for national forests mandated under the National Forest Management Act.

The 2008 rule mirrored another issued by the Bush administration in 2005, which was also thrown out by a federal court. Like the 2005 rule, the 2008 rule eliminated mandatory protections in place since the Reagan administration that require the national forests to be managed to guarantee viable wildlife populations, to preserve healthy streams and lakes, and to protect diverse natural forests. The Bush rules also sought to reduce public participation in decisions about the management of public forests.

The court found that the Forest Service violated the National Environment Policy Act by failing to adequately analyze the environmental impacts of the new regulations. The court also ruled that the Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to examine the effects of eliminating wildlife protection standards for protected species.

This is a monumental victory that will ensure better management and protection of America’s 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. As Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said, “[this] decision offers an opportunity to restore traditional safeguards to America's forests and wildlife. The Bush administration attempted a wholesale gutting of the rules that have protected America’s national forest system for years. Weakening these regulations would have opened our last wild forests to unchecked logging and industrial development, with no regard for the impacts on wildlife, the environment, or recreational users. We’re pleased that the court has recognized the importance of protecting our forests for future generations.”

Sierra Club and its allies were represented in this case by Earthjustice attorneys Trent Orr and Tim Preso, and Defenders of Wildlife attorney Sierra Weaver.

To read the court order, click here. To read our press release, click here.

Sierra Club and Allies Take Action to Protect Communities from Toxic Coal Ash Sites

On June 18, 2009, a coalition of environmental groups formally asked the Department of Homeland Security, the Army Corp of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency to make public the list of 44 “high hazard” coal ash disposal sites across the country. Sierra Club, Earthjustice, the Environmental Integrity Project, and Natural Resources Defense Council sent the request after the EPA refused to disclose which of the hundreds of coal ash sites pose such a threat to nearby communities that they have been deemed by the Obama Administration to be a national security risk.

The EPA was instructed by the Department of Homeland Security not to release information about the location of high hazard dams containing coal ash.  Unspecified national security concerns were cited as the reason for withholding this critical information from the public, even though the locations of other hazardous sites, such as nuclear plants are publicly available.

Coal ash sites contain harmful levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxins, which can leach out slowly contaminating drinking water sources, or as in the case of the 44 “high hazard” sites, flood communities with a life-threatening wave of toxic sludge as happened last year in Tennessee. 

As Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign said, “people have a right to know if mountains of toxic coal ash are threatening their communities so they can take action and put pressure on their local utilities to demand clean up.”

To read Sierra Club’s press release, click here. To read the groups’ request, click here.

Coalition Groups Act to Protect West and Midwest from Dirty Oil Development

On May 28, 2009, a coalition of groups, including Sierra Club, sent letters to the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, warning that construction of three massive pipelines designed to carry dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands into the U.S. would threaten communities across the West and Midwest. Farmers, steelworkers, tribes, rural citizens and environmentalists are urging the agency not to approve the projects’ safety plans, citing numerous concerns about the pipelines, such as the use of cheap materials and inadequate safety measures. Local communities have also expressed concern that the agency did not give them an opportunity to weigh in on emergency response plans for the pipelines, which pose a threat of oil spills.

The detrimental impacts of these pipelines are numerous. As Sierra Club Legal Director, Pat Gallagher, said, "[i]n addition to threatening rural communities, these pipelines would support expansion of tar sands oil, the dirtiest fuel on earth. The tar sands industry ruins the precious forests and birds of Canada. It also creates a staggering amount of global warming pollution. We shouldn't let America's farmland and waterways become the latest casualties of the tar sands industry."

To read Sierra Club’s press release, click here. To read the groups’ letters, click here and here.