Judge rules in favor of timber company

The U.S. Forest Service owes money to a timber company for authorizing a logging project that was later blocked by environmental litigation. The agency is financially liable for not disclosing key legal matters to Timber Products Co. of Springfield, Ore., according to a federal judge. The Forest Service unreasonably awarded the company a timber sale in California's Klamath National Forest even though the agency knew environmentalists would try to stop logging at the site, the judge said. Logging was later blocked by a federal court and Timber Products couldn't harvest logs from the site in four years. The company is seeking $1.3 million in timber replacement costs, lost profits and expenses. The agency breached its contract "by awarding the timber sale knowing of the risk of an injunction and suspension, but never telling Timber Products," said Judge Mary Ellen Coster Williams of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The Forest Service recognized that Timber Products could suffer damages but approved the logging project because the company's opposition to an injunction could help the agency in its legal battle with environmentalists, the ruling said. "In short, awarding the timber sale was a litigation tactic," said Williams...more

Pretty typical.  A federal agency willing to risk the profits and jobs of a private entity to complete a project which results in funds for the federal agency.  Wonder if they would have taken the legal gamble if it was their jobs at risk?