The Clinton administration’s Northwest forest plan
received a blow March 21 when a federal judge ruled the plan was
prepared in violation of a federal open-meetings law. Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.,
said the administration failed to include public comment and took
information from a limited circle of scientists in composing the
plan, known as Option 9. Jackson did not rule the plan illegal, but
he left the door open for future legal challenge. An unnamed
administration official told the Washington Post the ruling “slaps
us on the wrists and allows us to move forward.” But that comment
irked Judge Jackson, who in an impromptu, post-opinion session,
chastised Justice Department lawyers representing the case. “I
don’t think it’s a reaction which they ought to be proud of,”
Jackson stated. “I did not commend the government for a good-faith
effort.” Despite Jackson’s ruling, the administration presented its
plan to U.S. District Court Judge William Dwyer in Seattle April
14. Timber industry leaders plan to sue again, using the weight of
Jackson’s ruling in Dwyer’s court. Says Mark Rey, executive
director of the American Forest and Paper Association, “If you look
at Option 9 as the Starship Enterprise, the shields are down and
it’s not going to take many more photon torpedoes.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Judge chastises forest plan defendant.
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