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Fwd: Wilderness victory/ Potlatch Air
>X-From_: foc@wildrockies.org Mon Sep 25 17:55:27 2000
>X-Sender: foc@mail.wildrockies.org
>Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 18:01:00 -0700
>To: foc@wildrockies.org
>From: Friends of the Clearwater <foc@wildrockies.org>
>Subject: Wilderness victory/ Potlatch Air
>
>NEWS RELEASE
>September 25, 2000
>
>For More Information
>George Nickas 406-542-2048
>Jack Tuholske 406-721-6986 (attorney)
>
>
>Court rules that Resorts on Wild Salmon River Must Go!
>
>In a major victory for Wild and Scenic River protection nationwide, a
>federal court has ruled that three resorts on the Wild and Scenic Salmon
>River in central Idaho must be removed. The ruling by U.S. Circuit Judge
>Sidney R. Thomas found that, "Šthe law is clear: the construction of
>>permanent resort lodges is not permitted in the Wild River corridor" and is
>clearly "inconsistent with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA)."
>
>Wilderness Watch, the national wilderness organization that brought the
>lawsuit, hailed the 51-page decision as an unprecedented triumph for wild
>rivers. According to the group's attorney Jack Tuholske, "It's a great
>victory for wild rivers and upholds Congress' clear direction that they
>remain 'vestiges of primitive America.'"
>
>The pivotal issue before the Court was whether the Forest Service's
>decision permitting permanent developments on public lands was consistent
>with the mandates of the WSRA, which requires that the river and its
>shorelines must remain essentially primitive. The Court rejected the
>Forest Service's claim that "essentially primitive" is ambiguous and thus
>subject to the agency's interpretation. The Court also rejected the Forest
>Service argument that the Central Idaho Wilderness Act (CIWA) that
>established the Salmon Wild and Scenic River allowed the resorts.
>
>"You can't underestimate the importance of this victory," said George
>Nickas, Wilderness Watch's executive director. "The Forest Service argued
>in Court that it had the authority to approve similar resorts along any one
>of our nations 57 Wild rivers that it is entrusted with protecting. Let's
>hope they got the message and now know better."
>
>Over the years, the Forest Service turned a blind eye as permanent resorts
>sprang up at two sites (Arctic Creek and Stub Creek) along the Salmon River
>where outfitters had been granted permits allowing temporary facilities
>(e.g. canvas tents) only. In 1988, the Forest Service approved the
>construction of a third resort, known as the "Guth" camp, at Smith Gulch.
>That decision triggered Wilderness Watch's lawsuit.
>
>Bill Worf, a 30-year Forest Service-veteran and a founder of Wilderness
>Watch noted that the organization was born out of this dispute. "We had to
>organize citizens to fight this battle because officials on the Salmon
>National Forest caved in to private interests." Worf pointed to the
>Judge's description of how Salmon National Forest supervisor Dick Hauff
>approved the resorts over the objections of Bitterroot National Forest
>supervisor Bob Morgan. Worf noted that the Salmon National Forest
>administers the river corridor, even though the Guth resort lies on the
>Bitterroot. He added, "Morgan's staff told him the lodges were illegal and
>Bob agreed! Judge Thomas validated Bob's position when he wrote, 'The
>analysis of the Bitterroot National Forest staff has been entirely correct
>>from the onset.' I know many fine Forest Service people, those still
>working and those who have retired, who are quietly celebrating this
>decision."
>
>Nickas concluded by stating, "The Forest Service has a chance to redeem its
>stewardship responsibilities by moving expeditiously to remove the lodges
>and bring the outfitters' camps into compliance with the law. It's too bad
>for the outfitters who will have to tear down their buildings because the
>Forest Service turned a blind eye to the rules. Yet the public's been
>cheated out of its premier wild river for so long. Let's hope the Forest
>Service now turns its attention to restoring the land, rather than
>continuing to promote private interests at the public's expense."
>
>Judge Thomas' decision, Wilderness Watch, et al., vs. U.S. Forest Service
>(CV 91-103-M-SRT) can be viewed at http://www.wildernesswatch.org (it may
>not be available for a few hours).
>George Nickas
>Executive Director
>Wilderness Watch
>Box 9175
>Missoula, Montana 59807
>(406) 542-2048
>(406) 542-7714 - fax
>gnickas@wildernesswatch.org
>
>---------------
>
>IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>SEPTEMBER 25, 2000
>
>CONTACT: MARK SOLOMON 208.699.2658
> BILL EDDIE 208.342.7024
>
>POTLATCH FINED $500,00 FOR POLLUTING AIR
>
>(Lewiston) Potlatch Corporation has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for
>illegally burning tires without installing necessary air pollution control
>equipment according to documents filed September 12 in the Federal District
>Court of Idaho. The Clean Air Act (CAA) enforcement action, brought by the
>Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), charged Potlatch with burning more
>than 60 tons of tires per day from 1991 to 1996 resulting in an additional
>100 tons per year of sulfur dioxide emissions into the air of the
>Lewiston/Clarkston Valley. The $500,000 fine is significantly reduced from
>the potential penalties established by the CAA of $25,000 per day of
>violation: a possible penalty of over $45 million.
>
>Local environmentalists had raised the issue of tire burning during the
>review of the mill's 1992 wastewater discharge permit and subsequent review
>of mill operations. At the time, Idaho's Department of Environmental
>Quality (IDEQ) declined to regulate the additional air emissions citing
>regulations that allow certain exceptions from Idaho permit review. DEQ's
>air quality program had been zero-funded by the Legislature in 1980 after
>issuance of a restrictive permit for the Potlatch facility the previous
>year.
>
>"Potlatch is still the 600 pound gorilla of Idaho polluters and politics,"
>said local environmentalist and Potlatch watchdog Mark Solomon. "The
>$500,000 fine, while welcome and long overdue, is hardly a deterrent to a
>company with over a billion dollars of annual sales."
>
>"As long as Idaho polluters can buy their way out of compliance with the
>Clean Air Act with fines that may not even equal the cost of pollution
>control there will be no incentive for them to change their ways," said
>Bill Eddie, attorney for the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies. "DEQ, and
>now EPA, have shown that endangering human health and the environment can
>be cost effective for Potlatch."
>-30-
>
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>
>Friends of the Clearwater
>PO Box 9241
>Moscow, ID 83843
>Phone: 208-882-9755 Fax: 208-883-0727
>foc@wildrockies.org
>On the web at: www.wildrockies.org/foc
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