Judge Says (Bush) Plan to Log Sequoias Illegal

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/aug/22/082203747.html

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Bush administration plan to allow commercial logging inside the Giant Sequoia National Monument violates environmental laws.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer sided with environmental groups that sued the U.S. Forest Service over its plans for managing the 328,000-acre preserve, home to two-thirds of the world's largest trees.

Breyer had already issued a preliminary injunction, in September 2005, to halt further logging in the national monument created by President Clinton in 2000.

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[JohnWxy]

1. recommended. Just incredible.

[rrasile]

23. Redwood

Most if all of you people know little about Redwood. Thirty or more years ago one of biggest Timber Companies began to replant redwood and the fact is that it happens to be the biggest reforestation in the world. But during this period things changed a hell of a lot in the Building Materials Industry.
Remember that Redwood is a very soft and non structural wood. It's not even accepted for post and beams and you can't walk on it with out making marks. Trim use is all that is left and if there is a lumber yard that stocks redwood for trim then they are behind the times and losing money to the composition and engineered products that are so superior that some are indestructible. Even the Aluminum and Vinyl siding products in the coastal areas are loosing ground to the new manufactured products. All I see for the future of Redwood is Parklands and birdhouses and they end up look like shit when the wood turns black every two years.
I could sell a 1/2x12x26' cement composition board that is factory primed and grained that will outlive anything else you put into a home and cost just about what redwood would , if you could find it without finger joints every foot or two. You should know that the saw mills cut to get the best yield so even the long 16' boards are chopped down to make their finger-jointed product.

[kenfrequed]

32. You know

Every time I think that they might just be sort of greedy jerks, that this administration is just a bunch of myopic, job killing, profit blinded, civil liberties hating, religious lunatics on a power bender... I read something like this and wonder whether they are incredibly stupid or if the Bush people are friggin evil?

And that isn't a word I just toss around randomly.

[glitch]

2. Any legal act by bushco is purely accidental. Thank for this judge and

others like him. They are true heroes and patriots, even if they are only doing their jobs.

[fooj]

3. Stay the hell away from our Sequoias!

:grr:

[Sequoia]

27. Yep, stay away!

If none of you have ever been there go and see those beautiful trees.



Signing the Giant Sequoia National Monument proclamation in Sequoia National Forest, CA, April 15.

[BlueOysterCult]

29. Less BUSH more Trees!

he has never been close to one so he would never appreciate one -

[orleans]

30. good one! welcome to du. n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. ...to halt further logging in the national monument...

but what's been cut stays cut, forever. 600 year old trees do not, obviously, grow back overnight.

Each gain is temporary. Each loss is permanent.

:cry:

[iwanmycntrybak]

5. another activist judge!

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Could almost be an "Onion" headline. nt

[AndyA]

7. Another Bush Administration plan deemed illegal...what a shock.

Now they'll just rewrite the laws to make it legal. No biggie. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...

[partylessinOhio]

8. Why are these scoundrels hell bent on destroying America?

[YankeyMCC]

9. #%!%$#@!!!

aarrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!

That is directed at Shrub and Co not the judge...it's good we have someone in government looking out for the important things.

[Odin2005]

10. Sorry Big Lumber, no redwoods for you!

:woohoo:

[Pharaoh]

11. These Guys are Pure Evil!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Joanne98]

12. Trying to cut down the few big trees left on Earth. SCUM!

Every school teacher in America should make sure the children know how GREEDY and SELFISH Republicans are. Just tell them this. It speaks volumes.

[texpatriot2004]

13. So, the Thief in Chief BROKE ANOTHER LAW...now what? nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Very good news. The public good finally strikes back.

[XemaSab]

15. This headline is misleading

There is no plan to log giant sequoias.

The forest does need thinning before a natural fire regime can be introduced, and thinning is a necessary precursor.

[Spiffarino]

18. Whether or not they log sequoias or anything else

Isn't he just giving away land that belongs to US in order to enrich his cronies? That's Bush's usual M.O. and I'm tired of it.

[XemaSab]

20. It's not exactly a land giveaway

It's allowing private firms the use of the land for timber extraction. The state still retains ownership of the land.

[Spiffarino]

43. OK. Does that mean he's giving away the timber?

If they're going to log Federal forest land, then they should pay a percentage back to us for use of it. We live in tough financial times thanks to multi-billion dollar giveaways to the wealthiest among us.

We have trillion-dollar deficits looming into the foreseeable future. The least logging companies can do is pay a fee. The Feds make us pay when we use it; shouldn't they?

[NastyDiaper]

19. CA ROAD TRIP CANCELED

I was about to buy a cargo net, some rappelling line, and a case of adult diapers.

[Hayduke Lives]

21. The problem is

that thinning in a way that enhances the health of the forest (i.e. taking the small understory and leaving the fire-resistant older trees) is expensive and doesn't pay for itself. So the Feds always find profitable ways the thin public forest land, which of course means taking the big pumpkins.

Under the guise of reducing the threat of "catastrophic fire" Federal land managers have simultaneously degraded forest health, brought industrial logging into areas that were otherwise off limits, and ripped off the american public...once again.

[XemaSab]

22. Welcome to DU, uh, Hayduke!

:toast:

You're right about this. Thinning is good for reducing the threat of catastrophic fires, but clearcutting is very bad and dramatically increases the risk of huge fires. Thinning doesn't usually pay for itself, but clearcutting can make a lot of money.

I'm not inherently opposed to a fuel reduction program in Sequoia, but I am opposed to clearcutting or other removal of large trees. And all in all, I'd rather see it thinned than see the whole thing blow up.

[Ferret Annica]

45. Hayduke Lives!

So does the spirit of Ed Abbey.

Earth First!

[NastyDiaper]

42. :toast:

:toast:

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. And if they have to take out a few big ones to open it up enough

to reach the scrub they want to get, well, that's the price you pay.

:grr:

[XemaSab]

46. Part of the kicker here is that giant sequoia wood is brittle crap

and that's why they were so protected early on. If it was decent wood like the coast redwoods, they would have been toast a long time ago. There are big trees of other species in there that are commercially valuable.

[cosmicdot]

16. Judge Charles R. Breyer (Clinton appointeed)

is SCOTUS justice Stephen Breyer's brother

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Breyer

Breyer, Charles R.

Born 1941 in San Francisco, CA

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of California
Nominated by William J. Clinton on July 24, 1997, to a seat vacated by D. Lowell Jensen; Confirmed by the Senate on November 8, 1997, and received commission on November 12, 1997.

Education:
Harvard College, A.B., 1963

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1966

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Oliver Carter, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 1966-1967
Counsel, Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, California, 1967
Assistant district attorney, District Attorney's Office, City & County of San Francisco, California, 1967-1973
Assistant special prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecution Force, 1973-1974
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1974-1979
Chief assistant district attorney, District Attorney's Office, City and County of San Francisco, California, 1979
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1980-1997

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj

[Spiffarino]

17. In other news...

Judge Breyer also thwarted the administration's plans to sell Yosemite Valley to a golf course developer, melt Glacier National Park and sell the water rights to Coca-Cola, and build a granite quarry on Mt. Rushmore.

[Deep13]

24. Judge halts Bush plan to strangle kittens.

Goddamn!

[Seabiscuit]

25. Is there anything that cretin doesn't want to destroy?

I didn't even know about this.

Beyond disgusting.

[Ganja Ninja]

26. If I didn't know better I'd think Bush trying to use this outrage to ...

distract people from the outrageous disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[civildisoBDence]

31. Limbaugh says the only good thing about trees

is what they can be made into. What an asshole--I'm sure he has a gardener taking care of the trees in his oceanfront yard in W. Palm Beach.

Maybe Rush will get it when global warming puts that estate under water.

The fact that our presidunce walks in perfect step with a reactionary blowhard like Rush Limbaugh is appalling.

Clear the brush on your own ranch, DUHbya, and leave the Sequoias the fuck alone.

[link:www.prestoncoleman.com|Satire as thick as a president's skull}

[mod mom]

33. These thugs make me sick to my stomach. It's all about the almighty with

these guys (almighty $-that is)

[nam78_two]

34. Typical Bushie logic- "prevent fires-cut trees!"

:eyes:
Disgusting...Good on the judge for doing the right thing.
Three cheers for "activist" judges :applause:!

[McCamy Taylor]

35. I'll bet california red wood trees have higher polls than W.

[burythehatchet]

36. Why do Giant Sequoias hate our freedom?

[progressoid]

37. Why did this even have to go to court?

Oh yeah, those pricks in DC think laws don't apply to them.

[Tekla West]

38. they must hate judges

Its become almost a weekly affair that some action of the BushCo is tossed out in court. Too bad he had to get that MBA, because if he had been accepted in Law School he might understand it. On the other hand, he did go to B-School, and that didn't seem to help. When are we going to impeach this idiot?

[Raydawg1234]

39. Glad they were stopped. Why do the Republicans have to destroy

everything that is beautiful in this world?

[nam78_two]

40. Out of solidarity with the other ugly things

;)

[NVMojo]

41. * wants to bend Clinton and log him, I swear! And then he logs us!

I hate this man and all of his believers.

[L0oniX]

44. Bush also in charge of logging ass carrots