Oregon Wild v. Warnack

In a NEPA challenge to a U.S. Forest Service project in the Willamette National Forest that the plaintiffs alleged would involve “aggressive commercial logging,” the federal district court for the District of Oregon granted the plaintiffs’ motion to complete the administrative record with exhibits that were “scientific literature relating to the effects of logging on climate change, carbon emissions, and carbon storage.” The court found that there was sufficient evidence that the exhibits were “indirectly” before decision-makers because one of the plaintiffs cited, quoted, and linked to the exhibits extensively in its written comments and the Forest Service responded to the substance of the comments. The exhibits therefore had to be included to complete the record.

Two environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Oregon challenging a U.S. Forest Service project in the Willamette National Forest that they alleged would involve “aggressive commercial logging.” They contended that the final project “does not strike an appropriate balance between the agency’s stated goals of producing timber and reducing hazardous fuels and the need to maintain desperately needed habitat for imperiled species, retain existing stored carbon and facilitate future storage, and protect mature and old-growth forests.” They asserted that the defendants violated NEPA, including by failing to consider reasonable alternatives that would retain and promote carbon storage and by failing to take a hard look at impacts, including impacts on carbon sequestration, carbon emissions, and climate change.