Logging Against the Law Bush Administration's Legal Violations, Court Strategies, Relentless Policy Attacks Undercut Forest Law

(07/17/2003) - WASHINGTON -- Defenders of Wildlife today released a detailed analysis of the Bush administration's systematic assault on the National Forests that includes violating forest laws, undermining those laws in court, and attacking them through the regulatory process. The report documents this underhanded strategy and how it fits into the Bush administration's overall agenda to dismantle decades of forest protection on behalf of corporate timber interests.

The report is the second in a series by the Defenders of Wildlife Judicial Accountability Project, prepared with the assistance of the Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic.   

"The Bush administration is trying to undercut meaningful forest protection by flouting the law in and out of court," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife.  "Our report shows this administration consistently breaks the law, argues in court to have laws overturned, then rewrites the rules when the court won't let them have their way."

The study reviews all 46 cases decided by the courts between January 2001 and January 2003 in which the Bush administration advanced arguments on substantive forest management issues.  In more than two-thirds of those cases, it presented "hostile" arguments, which were designed overturn established interpretations of forest laws.  The courts ruled against the Bush administration in 90 percent of these"hostile" cases, despite the strong deference courts usually show administrative agencies in interpreting the law.

Courts have accused the administration of "extra legal effort[s] to circumvent the law" and "mystical legal prestidigitation" (Wilderness Society v. Rey), "bait-and-switch" (Friends of Clearwater v. McAllister), attempting to "eviscerate the public's role in land use decisions" (Native Ecosystems Council v. Reese), donning "blinders to the overall condition of a national forest," and "losing sight of the forest for the trees" (Neighbors of Cuddy Mountain v. Alexander).

"The Bush administration keeps breaking the laws requiring environmentally and publicly acceptable management of our national forests.  The good news is that the courts have generally stopped them cold," said Schlickeisen. "But the bad news is that they continue with a full court press within the bureaucracy to rewrite regulations against the public and the environment in favor of corporate interests."

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Defenders of Wildlife is one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and habitat, and was named as one of America's Top 100 Charities by Worth magazine. With more than 430,000 members and supporters, Defenders is an effective voice for wildlife and habitat.

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Contact(s):

Brad DeVries, (202) 772-0237