OPINION/COMMENTARY

Court Victory Upholding the Rights of Private Timberland Owners!

Big Creek v. County of Santa Cruz. PLF won a big victory for private property rights in the Sixth District Court of Appeal on February 17. Santa Cruz County had passed an ordinance regulating timber operations virtually out of existence in the county. PLF filed briefs in the trial court and the Court of Appeal arguing that the county did not have the legal authority to regulate either where or how timber harvesting activities may take place because such regulation is preempted by the state’s Forest Practice Act....

Bogus Endangered Species Act Protections for “Wild” Coho Salmon Must Go

Alsea Valley Alliance v. Evans. On February 24, PLF’s Northwest Center won a key victory in its ongoing assault on the federal bureaucracy’s reliance on “junk science” to promote political agendas through the Endangered Species Act.

Recall that in September 2001, PLF successfully challenged the listing of the Oregon Coast coho salmon as a threatened species under the ESA. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service acted illegally in protecting fish spawning in the wild, but not hatchery fish, which are genetically identical. Judge Hogan ruled NMFS could not pick and choose among fish swimming side-by-side in a stream which it would protect and which it would ignore....

Grants Handled Or Mishandled At The EPA?

Should liberal and environmental advocacy organizations be receiving "no strings attached" federal grants? Remember, this is Washington, so the common sense answer need not apply - not even when the federal deficit is skyrocketing.

The EPA's Office of Inspector General, in a March 1, 2004 report, identified a federal grant that had been received by the Consumer Federation of America (Foundation) to work on projects under the Clean Air Act....

Environmental Groups Use Violent Tactics to Advance Their Agenda

Most Americans understand that they live in a free republic that provides democratic means to achieve political ends. They agree with the radio talk show host who tells his listeners, “If you want a revolution, go to the ballot box.” However, important fringe elements in the environmental and animals rights movements disagree. They scoff at rational discussion and democratic procedures because they have neither patience nor respect for the opinions of others—character traits necessary to inform, lobby, and build successful political coalitions. Instead, they prefer—indeed, relish—opportunities for “direct action.” Direct action is the name activists give to carefully arranged high-profile confrontations. The activists have two goals in mind: to get publicity for their cause, and to intimidate their enemies....

Pesticides and the West Nile Virus: An Examination of Environmentalist Claims

Ever since the mosquito-transmitted West Nile Virus appeared in New York City during 1999, environmental activists have been fighting efforts to keep the disease under control. Not only have they battled against any spraying for adult mosquitoes, they have also fought methods to manage mosquito larvae. These groups maintain that the control methods are more dangerous than the diseases they seek to control. In the case of spraying, activists say that the chemicals imperil public health and can kill or harm wildlife. These groups claim further that other methods, such as the use of biological agents to kill mosquito larvae, disrupt the balance of nature and thereby threaten non-target species. Finally, while maintaining that spraying can devastate non-target organisms such as butterflies and aquatic life, many groups claim that mosquito control efforts have little or no impact on mosquito populations....

Ninth Circuit Torches Sensible Fire Prevention

Two years ago, the devastating Star Fire swept through the El Dorado and Tahoe National Forests in Northern California. Over a harrowing 23 days, flames consumed 17,000 acres of habitat for the California spotted owl. Now some federal judges have stepped forward—to finish off what the fire didn’t destroy.

In December, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a forest recovery plan designed to head off the next out-of-control blaze by clearing trees that were scorched in the last one....

Our Science Can Beat Up Your Science: Playing Politics with Data

A new front in the war over "sound science" opened on February 29, with the publication of a Washington Post op-ed by former American Prospect Online editor Chris Mooney, "Beware 'Sound Science.' It's Doublespeak for Trouble." In this article, Mooney argues that the Bush administration has twisted the idea of "sound science" so that "instead of allowing facts to inform policies, preexisting political commitments have twisted facts and tainted information." He warns that, as a result, "The once-cooperative relationship between politicians and scientists in this country seems to be in serious jeopardy." Yet a close look at the facts reveals that Mooney's argument is as much doublespeak as anything he criticizes the administration for....

The Wrong Way To Prosecute “Eco-Terrorists”

Environmental activists come in all temperaments, but the ones who carry their philosophy to an extreme have earned a pithy nickname at the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America headquarters in Washington, D.C.: “eco-terrorists.” Experts there are well acquainted with them. Indeed, they say they can plot the routes these activists will take after they leave various “green” conclaves.

The first attack, which will take place within 200 miles of the meeting, will feature vandalism on SUVs parked at an auto dealership. Then, about a day’s drive away, another attack will occur in which nasty messages, such as “Fat, Lazy American,” are spray-painted on SUVs. Then, perhaps they’ll dip south and set a home on fire, as they did in San Diego and Indiana last year, or vandalize a store, set off homemade bombs or commit some other crime....

Enviros Commence Election-Year Attack

Environmentalists have commenced their election-year attack on President Bush.

The Union of Concerned Scientists recently issued a widely covered report condemning the Bush administration for allegedly politicizing science on a number of controversial issues, ranging from global warming to HIV/AIDS to Iraq's nuclear weapons efforts.

It was quite an ironic charge coming from a self-described activist group whose left-wing, eco-extremist, anti-biotechnology, anti-chemical, anti-nuclear, anti-defense and anti-business screeds embody the very antithesis of the scientific ideal of objectivity....