Conservationists sue for records used in new forest regulations
By The Associated Press
10.25.02
WASHINGTON — A conservation group has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to force the Bush administration to release records of meetings and other information used to develop new national forest regulations.
Defenders of Wildlife said in court papers that draft regulations issued by the administration mirror specific recommendations made by the American Forest and Paper Association and other industry groups.
Just as officials are withholding documents on an energy task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney, "the Bush administration is stonewalling our request for information on why they suspended and began rewriting the rules for managing national forests," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the wildlife group.
A draft of proposed changes to the National Forest Management Plan, leaked to the wildlife group, "confirms our worst fears — that (administration officials) are listening only to their timber industry supporters," Schlickeisen said.
The proposals would eliminate some required protections for wildlife, weaken scientific oversight and exempt forest plans from the National Environmental Policy Act — the baseline law governing environmental regulation, the wildlife group said.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington on Oct. 23, seeks to compel the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service to turn over records related to the new regulations, which were developed over the past year.
Specifically, the suit seeks information on meetings between timber-industry lobbyists and Mark Rey, the Agriculture undersecretary who oversees the Forest Service. Rey is a former timber-industry lobbyist.
Heidi Valetkevitch, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service, declined to comment. The administration has two months to respond to the lawsuit.
John Mechem, spokesman for the forest and paper association, called the lawsuit baseless.
"This is a pattern that (environmental groups) are using to go after the administration," he said, noting that other environmental groups have sued Cheney and the Forest Service on similar grounds.
In this case, the suit appears to be based on congressional testimony offered by the group two years ago — when President Clinton was still in office, Mechem said.
Environmentalists have the right to file a freedom-of-information request and a lawsuit, "but it may be worth waiting to see what the (final) regulations say" before criticizing them, Mechem said.