High Court Seeks Administration's Views On Logging Roads Litigation

摘要

The Supreme Court is asking the solicitor general to weigh in on state and industry petitions that seek to overturn an appellate ruling subjecting logging roads to Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting requirements, a step that shows the high court could be interested in hearing the cases. The high court in Dec. 12 orders discusses the two petitions - one filed by the state of Oregon, Decker, et al. v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC), and one by an industry coalition, Georgia Pacific West, et al. v. NEDC-and invites the solicitor general to "file a brief in these cases expressing the views of the United States." According to the order, Justice Stephen Breyer "took no part in the consideration or decision of these petitions," but it provides no other details about his recusal. The state and industry petitions call on the high court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit's August 2010 decision in NEDC v. Brown, which rejected EPA's longstanding CWA exemption for logging roads -known as the silviculture rule - on the grounds that the appellate court improperly failed to give EPA appropriate deference in its technical expertise for deciding regulatory matters.