Los Angeles Times
October 16, 2003 Thursday  Home Edition
SECTION: California Metro; Part 2; Page 6; Metro Desk

LENGTH: 422 words

HEADLINE: The State;
Logger Discharges Could Be Curbed;
Judge's challenge to exemption on pollution may reinforce a new state law increasing power of water boards.

BYLINE: Bettina Boxall, Times Staff Writer

BODY:
A federal court ruling could bolster a move to more closely regulate water pollution from logging operations in California.

The decision, issued Tuesday by a U.S. district court judge in San Francisco, challenges a long-standing federal policy of exempting logging discharges into ditches and culverts from permit requirements under the Clean Water Act.

It follows the recent signing by Gov. Gray Davis of a state law that gives regional water quality boards the power to veto private logging projects that would pollute rivers and streams.

"This decision, plus that new law, signals an opportunity for regional water quality control boards to step up to the plate," said Mike Lozeau, an attorney with the environmental legal group Earthjustice. "It's clear they have the tools to make very substantial inroads on logging pollution."

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel is a response to a lawsuit filed by Environmental Protection Information Center against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Pacific Lumber Co., a North Coast timber firm that has come under intense criticism for its logging practices.

Citing heavy sediment pollution of an Eel River tributary that runs through Pacific Lumber land in Humboldt County, the suit contends that a series of hillside culverts and roadside ditches should be regulated as "point sources" under the Clean Water Act.

The opinion is not the final ruling in the case. But it suggests the judge will find that some types of logging discharges are subject to requirements for permits. That would aid groups pressing for more curbs on logging-related water pollution.

"Yesterday's decision rejects EPA's attempt to exempt logging," Lozeau said. "It's not just about Pacific Lumber. She rejected a nationwide interpretation."

An EPA spokeswoman in California said the agency was reviewing the court ruling and could not yet say what it meant for EPA policy.

Logging's effect on water quality has been an especially contentious issue on the North Coast, where thousands of miles of streams and rivers are tainted with sediment attributed at least in part to erosion from timber operations and logging road construction.

Salmon habitat has suffered, prompting fishing groups as well as environmentalists to call for tougher regulation.

Timber industry representatives have responded that logging operations are already heavily regulated by the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More controls would be stifling, they say.

LOAD-DATE: October 16, 2003