Forest Road Case Reaches U.S. Supreme Court
By, Chris Reeves, Research Forester, UK Forestry Extension
The Supreme Court has granted the petition for the writ of
certiorari and will hear the case of Decker
v Northwest Environmental Defense Center regarding the Ninth Circuit
Court’s overruling the silviculture exemption of the Clean Water Act. Around 7,000 writs are delivered to the Court
with an average of a little over 100 actually scheduled for oral argument. That alone should illustrate how important
this case is. When the case was accepted
several forestry groups and other organizations have already submitted briefs in
support of the petitioners (Decker)
to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s ruling including the Society of American
Foresters, National Alliance of Forest Owners, American Farm Bureau
Association, and the National Governors Association.
Previous blog posts have noted that the EPA had moved
forward with clarifying the Ninth Circuit ruling stating that the EPA had no
intention of regulating pollutants from forest road ditches directly draining
into streams. EPA’s planning is actually
still moving forward in the event the ruling is not overturned by the Supreme
Court. But if the Supreme Court does
overturn the ruling, the silvicultural exemption to the Clean Water Act that
does not require permits for generated non-point source pollution from forest
operation will be reinstated.
Oral arguments will take place on December 3rd at
the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.
Justice Stephen Breyer will probably recuse himself from the case
because his brother ruled on the case as a Ninth Circuit judge but the other 8
judges will be present and will eventually rule on the case. A minimum of 5 justices must decide to
overturn the ruling because a 4-4 split reaffirms the lower court’s
ruling. The University of Kentucky is
planning on sending personnel and students to view this historic forestry event
in person. The release date for the
final Supreme Court opinion on the case traditionally does not get set but it
is expected to come out in spring 2013.
Stay tuned for further details.
More information about the case can be found at the U.S.
Supreme Court’s website and briefs can be found at the SCOTUSblog.
Supreme Court weblink: http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/11-338.htm
