Forest Owners Defend EPA Forest Roads Rule, File for Intervention in Ninth Circuit

Forest Owners Defend EPA Forest Roads Rule, File for Intervention in Ninth Circuit
EPA rules that forest roads do not require point source industrial discharge permits under the CWA.

National Alliance of Forest Owners
February 4, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC, – The National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), joined by a coalition of stakeholders, filed a motion to intervene Friday, February 1 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to defend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule clarifying that forest roads do not require point source industrial discharge permits under the Clean Water Act. NAFO’s motion responds to a new lawsuit filed by the Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC) to challenge the EPA rule.

“We agree with the position EPA has taken for 37 years that forest roads do not require point source permits under the Clean Water Act,” NAFO President and CEO Dave Tenny said.

“Clearly, the litigation is not going to end anytime soon. NEDC is eager to challenge any EPA policy that does not require permits, as they made clear to the Supreme Court,” Tenny continued. “Forest owners, the EPA, the Solicitor General, 31 attorneys general and a broad coalition of interests across the country all agree that forest roads don’t require permits and that the Supreme Court should erase the Ninth Circuit’s decision. Still, for a small yet vocal minority the litigation drum beat goes on.”

“It is time for Congress to pass permanent legislation that preserves EPA’s successful regulation of forest roads as nonpoint sources,” Tenny concluded.

EPA issued the rule in late 2012 in response to the Ninth Circuit’s 2011 decision that logging is an industrial activity requiring NPDES permits for point source stormwater discharges. The Supreme Court is currently considering in Decker v. NEDC whether the rule eliminates the need for the Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision that overturned EPA’s 37-years of successful policy that forest roads are effectively regulated under state-adopted Best Management Practices.