Plum Creek says GAO wrong on road rules Plum Creek Timber Co. officials believe the Government Accountability Office is mistaken in questioning the company's right to turn hundreds of miles of forest roads into forest home driveways. In a Nov. 4 letter to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Plum Creek attorney Steven Quarles argued the GAO misread several laws and policies governing road easements crossing public and private land. Tester has questioned the legality of private negotiations between Plum Creek and Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey involving thousands of company acres in western Montana. “The fact remains ... that the easements in question do give Plum Creek full use access whether or not the easement amendment is executed,” Quarles wrote. He acknowledged that the GAO “is generally correct that the Forest Service cannot convey more than it is authorized by law to convey,” but said the law the GAO depends on isn't as restrictive as the agency assumes. That law is the Federal Roads and Trails Act of 1964. Requests for comment from Plum Creek officials were not returned Wednesday. But in the letter, Quarles responded that the Plum Creek-Forest Service negotiations were “simply a clarification of an existing right” that didn't trigger any public participation, such as a National Environmental Policy Act review....