P.M. BRIEFING : Logging OKd Despite Owl Concerns
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court today opened the gates to logging of 500 million board feet of timber on Bureau of Land Management land in western Oregon despite a desperate fight by environmentalists claiming spotted owls would be endangered.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had barred logging within two miles of known nesting sites of the northern spotted owl while the appeal was pending.
The unanimous three-judge panel ruled today that a congressional rider attached to an appropriations bill by Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) in 1987 precluded environmentalists from challenging authorized timber sales on the basis of claims that new information showed impacts to wildlife.
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