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Forest Owners Call Final EPA Rule Premature, Citing Legal Uncertainty
WASHINGTON, DC, November 30, 2012 – The National Alliance of Forest Owners expressed concern that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule clarifying that logging and forest roads are not industrial activities subject to mandatory “point source” stormwater permits under the Clean Water Act is premature, citing the legal uncertainty caused by releasing the rule before a legal determination by the Supreme Court. The rule was signed by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today.
EPA issued a final rule amending its stormwater regulations in response to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that timber harvesting operations are point source “industrial activities” requiring discharge permits typically reserved for factories and similar facilities. This decision is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court with oral arguments scheduled before the Court December 3. In comments filed last month on EPA’s proposed rule, NAFO and other stakeholders urged EPA to let the Supreme Court clarify the law before proceeding with the final rulemaking.
“While we agree with EPA that logging is not an activity requiring permits under the agency’s point source stormwater rules, finalizing a rule before a final Supreme Court ruling could open up a Pandora’s box of litigation and legal uncertainty for forest landowners and the EPA,” said Dave Tenny, NAFO CEO and President. “A new rule ahead of a Supreme Court decision will be irresistible to litigants eager to get another case before the Ninth Circuit. It is puzzling to us why anyone would invite that kind of legal uncertainty at this juncture.”
As Tenny noted when NAFO filed its comments to EPA on October 4: “Only the Court or Congress can settle the most fundamental question of law, which is whether forest roads are nonpoint or point sources. EPA, the Solicitor General, 31 attorneys general, and a broad coalition of interests across the country all contend that they are not. Our united effort, therefore, should be to seek the solution that will settle this legal question once and for all. Once resolved, there will be no need to amend the stormwater rules, because those rules apply only to point sources.”
NAFO is working with a broad coalition of groups and bipartisan leaders in Congress to enact permanent legislation that will preserve the existing EPA regulations and provide long-term legal certainty to federal, state, tribal and private forest owners.
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NAFO is an organization of private forest owners committed to advancing federal policies that promote the economic and environmental benefits of privately-owned forests at the national level. NAFO membership encompasses more than 80 million acres of private forestland in 47 states. Working forests in the U.S. support 2.5 million jobs. To see the full economic impact of America’s working forests, visit www.nafoalliance.org/economic-impact-report.
2012-12-01 01:21:05
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