Evidence shows that Maxxam/Pacific Lumber has been illegally dumping pollution into five watersheds for years, committing several hundred violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in the process. In February, EPIC launched a new effort to abate the severe water quality problems facing these areas, and notified Maxxam/PL that we will file a federal lawsuit in April if these violations continue.

Logging roads like this one have dozens of ditches, culverts and other conduits that dump pollution from clearcut and herbicide-sprayed hillsides directly into streams and rivers. Photo: CDF

The network of logging roads across the Freshwater Creek, Elk River, Stitz Creek, Jordan Creek, and Bear Creek watersheds is extensive, and includes a huge number of drainage ditches, stream crossings and other alterations that divert the natural flow of water. As water gets channeled through these and other areas, it combines with pollution from hillsides that have been clearcut and sprayed with herbicides, then is discharged directly into streams and rivers.

Under the CWA, it is illegal to discharge pollution into the waters of the U.S. from pipes, ditches, channels, conduits, or other conveyance points unless it is covered by a permit. From our reading of this law, hundreds of discharges associated with Maxxam/PL's logging operations fall under this provision of the CWA, yet the company has never complied with it. In the meantime, water quality problems in these areas have intensified, and even the Department of Forestry admits that the cumulative impacts from Maxxam/PL's logging operations are severe.

EPIC is working on this issue with Michael Lozeau from the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund's office at Stanford University.