The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) today asked a California Superior Court judge to intervene and enforce a court order that was issued on logging operations authorized under the infamous Headwaters Deal.

The "stay" order was issued three weeks ago in two separate cases that EPIC and the United Steelworker Union filed in 1999. It states that "no party to this proceeding shall take any action whose validity depends upon the validity of" the permits granted to Pacific Lumber as part of the Headwaters Deal. Since the order was issued, Pacific Lumber has asserted that this "stay" does not apply to active logging operations.

In a hearing on September 19, Judge Golden in open court specified that his order does indeed apply to all active logging operations under the Headwaters Deal and that Pacific Lumber's allegations are wrong. Curiously, Pacific Lumber claims this does not alter the company's previous position and that it will not cease logging as the order requires.

EPIC sent an urgent letter to Judge Golden today requesting that he "...direct Pacific Lumber and the State Respondents to comply with the Stay Order." The request states that "...Pacific Lumber's conduct is generating a significant amount of public unrest because the company appears to be acting in disregard of the Stay Order. Pacific Lumber's apparent willingness to defy a court order, coupled with the State's declared refusal to intervene, has left citizens feeling that the law will not be enforced. In such situations in the past this has led to protests and arrests. This is a serious problem which extends far beyond the parties in this case. The Court's immediate intervention is needed."

Pacific Lumber's court filings show the company logged approximately 1 million board feet per day since the order was issued, the equivalent of over 200 logging trucks every day. This includes hundreds of acres of ancient forest in the Mattole River area as well as areas immediately adjacent to two tree-sitters in Freshwater Creek.

"Charles Hurwitz's Pacific Lumber is brazenly violating the court's order, and in doing so is pushing some of California's rarest fish and wildlife even closer to extinction," Cynthia Elkins, EPIC's Program Director, stated.

EPIC's lawsuit challenges state permits that were issued as part of the Headwaters Deal, including permits to kill numerous endangered species and a "streambed alteration" agreement that applies to 210,000 acres of land. EPIC sought the stay following what the judge called a "manifest delay" in the case proceeding to trial. This delay was caused by CDF's and DFG's failure to provide complete, certified administrative records for the court as required.

Pacific Lumber has a history of violating the law. The company has been found violating its "Habitat Conservation Plan" and the California Forest Practice Rules approximately 100 times in the last year, including illegal logging within five separate marbled murrelet habitat areas. In 1998, EPIC's investigations uncovered that the company violated the Forest Practice Act more than 300 times in 3 years, leading the California Department of Forestry to revoke its license to operate in California. Pacific Lumber has been cited with criminal violations more than a dozen times since 1996.

"Every day we read in the papers of the breakdown of the rule of law in corporate America. The public is told by its officials that such conduct will not be tolerated, but that message seems to have not reached Pacific Lumber," Elkins stated.