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Indybay Feature

PL Stalls Water Quality Meeting

by HWC
Press release from the Humboldt Watershed Council.
Eureka, CA - Pacific Lumber Company has succeeded in getting the Court to delay this week's long-anticipated Regional Water Board (RWB) hearings. PL sought and received a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent this week's scheduled hearings on the Watershed-Wide Waste Discharge Requirements (WWWDRs) for Elk River and Freshwater.

The 9 Regional Water Board members and dozens of staff were already in the area for the hearing when they received word of Judge Watson's decision. Also expected were many interested people from around the state, including other agency personnel, media, and representatives of Scotia Pacific’s bondholders. The Board will continue with their scheduled public meeting for Wednesday, the 14th, but without the hearing on the WWWDRs.

Judge Watson granted the TRO after about 2 hours of arguments by attorneys for PL and the State Attorney General's office, representing the Regional Water Board. Also seeking the TRO was Frank Bacik, one of PL's regular attorneys, now fronting for a group of PL supporters calling themselves the "Owners". In past proceedings, court filings for the "Owners" have been sent from Scotia Pacific's offices in Scotia. Bacik has refused to divulge who pays his bills.

Palco has already had 22 months of lead time to prepare for these permits. These hearings had been publicly noticed 80 days in advance (since June 27th), but PL waited until last Friday afternoon to challenge the process. This cynical move by PL assured that the hearing on the TRO would be held the day before the RWB hearings, creating maximum disruption and hardship to those involved.

Judge Watson's decision indefintely postpones these hearings, casting aside nearly 2 years of procedural effort by the Regional Water Board. Additionally, Watson's decision puts at risk 8 years of studies, meetings, hearings, reports, motions, and appeals. The potential loss of many years of taxpayer investment is likely many millions of dollars.

In the more immediate term, this flawed ruling will likely impact more than one-hundred individuals who have planned and prepared for these long-awaited hearings, and who were already in transit from Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Rosa, and other parts of the state. Many of those impacted by Judge Watson's ruling have hundreds, or even thousands, of hours of time invested in these permits and these hearings.

Judge Watson apparently did not understand the tremendous investment in time and taxpayer dollars that he was so blithely casting aside. This flawed ruling tramples on the public interest, at great cost to hundreds of individuals and to the people of the State of California.

The Judge’s lack of awareness of the consequences of his ruling was made painfully obvious by the way in which the ruling was released to the parties. At 5:01pm, the decision was faxed to the now-closed offices of the attorneys in Sacramento, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, and Ukiah. Since it was after hours and all of the relevant attorneys were all in Eureka and thus not at their desks, there was great confusion for nearly 2 hours as the attorneys for the Regional Board and the Attorney General’s office all tried to find out whether the next day’s meeting would take place or not.

Mark Lovelace, President of the Humboldt Watershed Council, said “This last minute disruption by Pacific Lumber Company is a perfect illustration of just why it is that so many people in our county feel the way they do about Pacific Lumber. This company's bullying tactics and abusive behavior have driven a wedge through our community, fueling division, and playing neighbor against neighbor.”

“The company has consistently shown that they care nothing for public process, health and safety, private property, regulatory authority, or the public interest” Lovelace continued. “The company has also made it quite clear that it has little accomodation for truth, law, or science. PL' is willing to subvert any virtue in pursuit of its own, cynical self interest.”

During the proceedings, PL’s attorney had solicited muffled laughter from the audience when he countered facts about the company’s track record of violations and non-compliance by stating “This is the new PL.”

“There is no ‘new PL”, said Lovelace. “This is the same old arrogance and abusive behavior that people have come to know and expect from this company.”

The Humboldt Watershed Council's previous announcement on these hearings had noted "past history tells us that simply having the truth and the law on one's side doesn't necessarily carry the day."

Noting this, Lovelace said “Perhaps Judge Watson's decision should not be surprising, but it is still tremendously disappointing when the Court so blatantly harms the public interest.”
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