Humboldt DA sues PL for Fraud!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 12:39:46 -0700
Subject: Humboldt DA sues PL for Fraud!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Humboldt County D.A. Sues Pacific Lumber for $250 Million for Fraud and
Deceptive Concealment

Suit Alleges PL Lied to Government to Allow Greater Logging Despite
Landslide Risks

Suit Alleges PL Knew Logging Would Lead to Landslides

EUREKA - The Humboldt County District Attorney sued the Pacific Lumber Company for $250,000,000, on six counts of fraud and deceptive concealment in applying for its Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Sustained Yield Plan in 1999. The suit alleges that PL lied to state and federal agencies so that it could log 100,000 additional trees on unstable slopes, thereby committing unfair business practices.

The suit alleges that PL did not reveal information it had that showed that the increased logging would result in landslides that would degrade the streams and water quality downstream.

The DA believes that withholding that information prevented compliance with the CA Environmental Quality Act requirement to "recirculate" the EIR.

In the last three days of the Headwaters Agreement, Pacific Lumber and its parent company Maxxam, refused to agree to the volume of timber the
California Department of Forestry (CDF) thought appropriate to protect wildlife, sustained timber yield, and other resources, such as watersheds and water quality. The suit alleges that Pacific Lumber pressured the state and federal agencies to convince CDF to increase the volume by allowing logging of unstable slopes. CDF relented one day before the deadline for the Headwaters Agreement that purchased the 3000 acres Headwaters Forest, and saved another 2500 acres of ancient redwoods for 50 years.

"This unprecedented action is a vindication of our 15-year battle with PL and the regulatory agencies to rein in PL's liquidation logging, which has caused tremendous property damages, nuisance flooding, loss of ancient redwood trees in state parkland, and polarization of our community," said Al Cook, a local chiropractor whose property values have been reassessed downwards due to flooding in his village of Freshwater.

"Fishermen and small logging enterprises have suffered because of PL's unfair competition, which has resulted in over-regulation due the severe environmental consequences of their irresponsible, and it turns out, illegal logging," said Rudy Langlois, a small timberland owner and Freshwater resident.

Ken Miller, a local physician active with the Humboldt Watershed Council, said:

"What has been most disheartening has been the complicity of our state and federal agencies in allowing PL to harm residents and the entire social, economic and environmental fabric of our community. Most recently, the water board has succumbed to political pressures, and the second executive officer in three years has resigned in the face of a board resolutely determined to protect PL's HCP rather than water quality. It is all related to this rate of cut that PL obtained fraudulently."

"We have learned from years of frustration how much political force PL and Maxxam have mobilized against good science and policy. The DA is showing the kind of integrity and courage that should be a giant moral inspiration to all citizens, and rejuvenate our faith that with the right people in office, the system can work," said Ralph Kraus, a retired science teacher and Elk River resident.

"We were worried from the start that this Headwaters Deal and HCP could sacrifice our property rights and destroy our community. Our Van Duzen watershed is being hammered. It gives us some hope that our government regulators were duped not complicit," said Sal Steinberg, a local elementary school teacher in PL's milltown of Scotia, who is a 23-year resident of Carlotta.

"We've been fighting so long for our rights and our property and our health and safety and gotten nothing but run-arounds and delays from the agencies who we thought should help us. I'd lost all faith in the system. It's almost too late now, but I'm starting to hope again," said Kristi Wrigley, half of whose 100-year old apple farm has been destroyed by PL's logging of Elk River.