Sierra Club
Redwood Chapter Newsletter
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North Group Report Marianne de Sobrino | |
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Our County District Attorney's suit against Maxxam/Pacific Lumber grinds exceeding slow as these things tend to do. Pacific Lumber has filed a request for "sanctions" against the DA, arguing that he did not have sufficient evidence for his allegations. That issue is to be heard at the end of this month. We look forward(?) to having to deal with more and more delaying tactics by PL with the intent of preventing the issue of their fraudulent behavior from coming before the court for as long as possible. Meanwhile, Superior Court Judge John Golden, sitting in Eureka, declared that certain logging permits issued to PL by California Dept. of Forestry and Fish and Game had been issued illegally. The permits involved in the ruling include PL's Sustained Yield Plan, Incidental Take Permits, Streambed Alternation permits and additionally declared that CDF had "failed to consider evidence" before it in those matters. This ruling may have a reinforcing effect on the District Attorney's suit but doesn't save the trees that have already been cut under the illegal permits. Quoting our forestry expert Kathy Bailey, "Although the lawsuit was filed in 1999, it was not heard until March of 2003, mostly because of procedural roadblocks thrown up by CDF and Pacific Lumber ...." |
So you can see that we and our DA probably have a long way to go before we have any results from the fraud lawsuit. The move to recall our brave DA has bogged down a bit. The recall proponents declare that they won't have enough petition signatures in order to qualify for the November election. They are aiming for March 2004. We hope that they will fade away before then. On a more cheerful note, our Vinyard/Van Kirk memorial education fund has sent two more youngsters to camp. Every year we try to fund some children to attend Camp Unalayee in the Trinity Alps, a wilderness camp. The feedback we get from the children every year seems to indicate that we are helping to foster in them an understanding of the importance of environmental protection. Which is all that anyone could ask. |