Court: Permit Violates Owl Protection (Oregon) - AP

[Eugene]

Court: Permit Violates Owl Protection

By WILLIAM McCALL
The Associated Press
Friday, February 16, 2007; 11:03 PM

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it approved a 22,000-
acre logging project that affects northern spotted owl habitat in southern Oregon.

In a case dating from 2001, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a
lower court ruling that would allow logging based on an "incidental take" statement
estimating how many owls might be killed.

-snip-

But the appeals court found the statement supporting the permit for about 75
proposed timber sales in the Rogue River Basin had no scientific foundation,
lacked a specific estimate of how many owls would be killed by the logging, and
had no "trigger" for keeping track of whether too many owls were being killed.

-snip-

The ruling was welcomed by Kristen Boyles, a Seattle attorney for Earthjustice
who handled the lawsuit for the environmental groups, which included the Oregon
Natural Resources Council, now called Oregon Wild, and the Klamath Siskiyou
Wildlands Center.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/16/AR2007021602363.html

[nosmokes]

1. they just don't care about the law if it interferes with making a buck.