OUR VIEW: Radicals try to stop firefighting planes (vote)

What’s more dangerous? Forest fires or lawsuits by radical environmental groups?...They look to the sky, hoping for the comfort of aircraft that drop red retardant — missions flown by brave men and women who have long been considered essential special forces in our wars against wildfires. Maybe the right drop will save their home. But the sky is empty, devoid of the aircraft that fly into smoke. The planes are grounded because environmentalists feared fire retardant might kill fish, or harm endangered plants. They filed a lawsuit to stop the aerial missions. One of the litigants spoke about a conspiracy called the “fire industrial complex,” in which government spends millions to enrich private contractors who dump retardant. If this lawsuit and the odd conspiracy theory sound far-fetched, they are not. It is all in the works. An environmental group known as the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics filed suit to stop the aerial drops twice since 2003, and in July a judge gave them a favorable ruling instead of laughing them out of court...more