ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Environmentalists in Alaska filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block a Trump administration plan to open vast swaths of the nation’s largest national forest to logging, nearly a third of it in old-growth timber.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, seeks to stop the U.S. Forest Service from going ahead with what opponents say would mark the largest sale of timber from the Tongass National Forest in 30 years under a plan the agency approved in March.

The court challenge argues that the sale would open old-growth woodlands on Prince of Wales Island in the Tongass to wide-scale logging without proper study of the environmental impact on what remains of North America’s largest temperate rain forest.

The timber sale was approved before the Forest Service had even identified specific sites where tree harvests and road-building would take place, the lawsuit said.

“This is a brazen attempt by the Forest Service to rewrite the rules for the forest, and it’s coming at the expense of habitat on Prince of Wales Island that’s important for wildlife and for people and communities, for hunting, fishing, recreation and tourism,” said Tom Waldo, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, the environmental group Earthjustice.

The Forest Service had no immediate comment.

The sale would put as much as 656 million board feet of timber up for auction over several years, 235 million of which is old-growth timber, Waldo said.

The sale area occupies 2.2 million acres, most of that within the boundaries of the Tongass, he said. Overall, more than 42,000 acres could be logged under the plan, with the remaining acreage open to road construction and related activities, according to Waldo.

The Tongass sprawls over nearly 17 million acres of spruce- and hemlock-covered islands, rain-drenched coastline and mountains making up most of Alaska’s southeastern panhandle. It is renowned for its centuries-old trees, its abundant salmon runs and wildlife, including bears, wolves and eagles.

Timber industry supporters see the forest as a vast storehouse of valuable wood commodities.

The lawsuit represents the latest volley in clashes between conservation groups and commercial timber interests over management of the Tongass going back several decades. In 2016, the Obama administration ended old-growth logging in national forests. </s> ANCHORAGE — Eight environmental groups brought a federal complaint to block one of the largest logging projects in national forests in a generation, including thousands of acres of old-growth timber, in the Tongass National Forest. </s> The court combined into one case nearly two dozen lawsuits calling for the National Energy Board’s review of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.’s project to be overturned

The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned the Trudeau government’s approval of the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

In a unanimous decision by a panel of three judges, the court says the National Energy Board’s review of the project was so flawed that the federal government could not rely on it as a basis for its decision to approve the expansion.

The court also concludes that the federal government failed in its duty to engage in meaningful consultations with First Nations before giving the green light to the project.

The decision came mere moments after Kinder Morgan shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of finalizing the sale of Trans Mountain to the Canadian government.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government approved the project in 2016 and is so determined to see the line built that it announced plans this spring to buy the pipeline and expansion project for $4.5 billion.

The court ruling requires the energy board to conduct a new review — which the court suggests could be kept short — and means the government will have to redo part of its consultations with Indigenous groups.

The court combined into one case nearly two dozen lawsuits calling for the energy board’s review of Kinder Morgan Canada’s project to be overturned.

First Nations, including the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish on British Columbia’s south coast, argued that Ottawa did not adequately consult them before the review or the cabinet decision to approve the project.

Lawyers for the federal government told court that Ottawa conducted extensive consultations.

Environmental groups and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby also challenged the project in Federal Court last fall. They were supported by the province of British Columbia, which acted as an intervener.

Alberta was also an intervener and the province’s lawyer told the court Ottawa’s decision to approve the pipeline expansion was based on broad evidence that considered environmental, economic and Indigenous interests.

The expansion would triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C., to 890,000 barrels a day. It would also increase the number of tankers in Burrard Inlet seven-fold.

The court ruled that the review contained one fatal flaw: it excluded the project’s impact on marine shipping. That, in turn, meant that the energy board did not assess the potential impact of increased tanker traffic on the southern resident killer whale population.

That failure “was so critical that the Governor in Council could not functionally make the kind of assessment of the project’s environmental effects and the public interest that the (environmental assessment) legislation requires,” says the ruling written by Justice Eleanor Dawson.

As for consultations with Indigenous communities, the court found that the government’s representatives “limited their mandate to listening to and recording the concerns of the Indigenous applicants and then transmitting those concerns to the decision-makers.” There was no “meaningful two-way dialogue.”

“The Indigenous applicants were entitled to a dialogue that demonstrated that Canada not only heard but also gave serious consideration to the specific and real concerns the Indigenous applicants put to Canada, gave serious consideration to proposed accommodation measures and explained how the concerns of the Indigenous applicants impacted Canada’s decision to approve the project.”

The Federal Court case was the most significant legal challenge facing the project and the decision may still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Representatives from the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh along with other First Nations spokespeople were expected to comment on the ruling at a media event.

Kinder Morgan had already won several court victories, including one last week when the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application from the City of Burnaby to overturn a lower court decision.

The Federal Court of Appeal is expected to release a judgment today on whether the federal government adequately consulted First Nations on the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

The court combined into one case nearly two dozen lawsuits calling for the National Energy Board’s review of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.’s project to be overturned.

First Nations, including the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish on British Columbia’s south coast, argued the federal government did not adequately consult them before the energy board review or the cabinet decision to approve the project.

Lawyers for the federal government told court that Ottawa conducted extensive consultation.

Environmental groups and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby also challenged the project in Federal Court last fall, supported by British Columbia, which was an intervener.

Alberta was also an intervener and the province’s lawyer told the court that Ottawa’s decision to approve the expansion was based on evidence that considered environmental, economic and Indigenous interests.

Kinder Morgan shareholders are also set to vote today on whether to approve the sale of the pipeline and expansion project to the Canadian government for $4.5 billion.

Related: Trans Mountain pipeline: How we got here

Related: TIMELINE: Key dates in the history of the Trans Mountain pipeline

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> The court combined into one case nearly two dozen lawsuits calling for the National Energy Board’s review of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.’s project to be overturned

The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned the Trudeau government’s approval of the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

In a unanimous decision by a panel of three judges, the court says the National Energy Board’s review of the project was so flawed that the federal government could not rely on it as a basis for its decision to approve the expansion.

The court also concludes that the federal government failed in its duty to engage in meaningful consultations with First Nations before giving the green light to the project.

The decision came less than an hour before Kinder Morgan shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of finalizing the sale of Trans Mountain to the Canadian government.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government approved the project in 2016 and is so determined to see the line built that it announced plans this spring to buy the pipeline and expansion project for $4.5 billion.

The court ruling requires the energy board to conduct a new review — which the court suggests could be kept short — and means the government will have to redo part of its consultations with Indigenous groups.

The court combined into one case nearly two dozen lawsuits calling for the energy board’s review of Kinder Morgan Canada’s project to be overturned.

First Nations, including the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish on British Columbia’s south coast, argued that Ottawa did not adequately consult them before the review or the cabinet decision to approve the project.

Lawyers for the federal government told court that Ottawa conducted extensive consultations.

Environmental groups and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby also challenged the project in Federal Court last fall. They were supported by the province of British Columbia, which acted as an intervener.

Alberta was also an intervener and the province’s lawyer told the court Ottawa’s decision to approve the pipeline expansion was based on broad evidence that considered environmental, economic and Indigenous interests.

The expansion would triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C., to 890,000 barrels a day. It would also increase the number of tankers in Burrard Inlet seven-fold.

The court ruled that the review contained one fatal flaw: it excluded the project’s impact on marine shipping. That, in turn, meant that the energy board did not assess the potential impact of increased tanker traffic on the southern resident killer whale population.

That failure “was so critical that the Governor in Council could not functionally make the kind of assessment of the project’s environmental effects and the public interest that the (environmental assessment) legislation requires,” says the ruling written by Justice Eleanor Dawson.

As for consultations with Indigenous communities, the court found that the government’s representatives “limited their mandate to listening to and recording the concerns of the Indigenous applicants and then transmitting those concerns to the decision-makers.” There was no “meaningful two-way dialogue.”

“The Indigenous applicants were entitled to a dialogue that demonstrated that Canada not only heard but also gave serious consideration to the specific and real concerns the Indigenous applicants put to Canada, gave serious consideration to proposed accommodation measures and explained how the concerns of the Indigenous applicants impacted Canada’s decision to approve the project.”

The Federal Court case was the most significant legal challenge facing the project and the decision may still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Representatives from the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh along with other First Nations spokespeople were expected to comment on the ruling at a media event.

Kinder Morgan had already won several court victories, including one last week when the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application from the City of Burnaby to overturn a lower court decision.

The Federal Court of Appeal is expected to release a judgment today on whether the federal government adequately consulted First Nations on the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

The court combined into one case nearly two dozen lawsuits calling for the National Energy Board’s review of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.’s project to be overturned.

First Nations, including the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish on British Columbia’s south coast, argued the federal government did not adequately consult them before the energy board review or the cabinet decision to approve the project.

Lawyers for the federal government told court that Ottawa conducted extensive consultation.

Environmental groups and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby also challenged the project in Federal Court last fall, supported by British Columbia, which was an intervener.

Alberta was also an intervener and the province’s lawyer told the court that Ottawa’s decision to approve the expansion was based on evidence that considered environmental, economic and Indigenous interests.

Kinder Morgan shareholders are also set to vote today on whether to approve the sale of the pipeline and expansion project to the Canadian government for $4.5 billion.

Related: Trans Mountain pipeline: How we got here

Related: TIMELINE: Key dates in the history of the Trans Mountain pipeline

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> WARSAW (Reuters) - Security guards in Poland's Bialowieza Forest have forcibly ejected protesters who sought to stop the felling of trees in one of Europe's last primeval woods, a project that has drawn the threat of a European Union lawsuit.

Earlier this month UNESCO called on Poland to halt logging in Bialowieza, saying it could otherwise decide to put the forest on its list of world heritage sites in danger, while the European Commission asked the European Court of Justice for interim steps to suspend the logging.

 The row is one in a series of clashes between Poland's nationalist-minded government and EU authorities in Brussels. On Friday, Polish lawmakers were set to defy the EU and opposition protesters by backing an overhaul of the judiciary denounced by critics as a lurch towards authoritarianism.

 Soon after the conservative Law and Justice party took power in 2015, Environment Minister Jan Szyszko, a hunter backed by powerful forester and hunter lobbies, approved a tripling in the volume of wood to be harvested in part of Bialowieza.

 Szyszko has argued that logging is needed to protect the woods against a beetle outbreak that is destroying spruce trees in the forest in northeast Poland. 

 In a video seen by Reuters and provided by the conservationist Wild Poland Foundation, guards from an agency that oversees state-run forests used force to carry away several protesters who tried to block the loggers. 

 "The increased logging of old growth forest stands is taking place in Bialowieza Forest. (...) The Ministry has totally ignored both UNESCO and the European Commission," the Wild Poland Foundation said in a statement. 

 The Wild Poland Foundation as well as Greenpeace said their activists were continuing to protest and impede the forest harvesters and expressed concern over "escalating violence" from state authorities. 

 "The protests are being stopped in a more aggressive way then before. The foresters are using more people to protect the machines; they mobilized forest guards from all over Poland," the Wild Poland Foundation statement said. 

 Officials at the environment ministry were not immediately available for comment. 

 In a separate statement on Friday, the ministry criticized non-government organizations for their appeal to protect the independence of courts as parliament pressed on with the judicial overhaul.

 "The appeal clearly shows that the so called environmentalists have taken the side of the total opposition," the ministry statement said.

 

 (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Multiple environmentalists groups file a lawsuit to stop the US Forest Service from opening up large tracts of the Tongass National Forest to logging, allegedly without a proper study of the environmental impact.