[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_image src=”https:\/\/westernlaw.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/N126-Victory-Tile.png” alt=”n126 victory tile” title_text=”N126 Victory Tile” admin_label=”Fullwidth Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ hover_enabled=”0″ animation=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_fullwidth_image][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding_tablet=”” custom_padding_phone=”30px||40px|” transparent_background=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” custom_padding_tablet=”” custom_padding_phone=”” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”N126 logging project” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
This spring, we won an important victory<\/a> against a controversial public lands logging plan. The \u201cN126\u201d project threatened a wide expanse of mature forest stretching west of Eugene into the steep slopes of the Oregon Coast Range, an area providing vital habitat for at least three threatened wildlife species: northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and Oregon Coast coho salmon. The project was one of the largest such logging proposals in decades, targeting 22,000 acres of public land, including cherished old-growth groves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This Bureau of Land Management project recklessly authorized massive logging primarily in late-successional reserves\u2014areas intended to serve as sanctuary habitat for federally protected species including the threatened northern spotted owl. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already determined, in response to our 2020 legal challenge, that \u201cspotty\u201d warrants uplisting to endangered status, making the protection of these forests all the more imperative. Additionally, the project authorized commercial logging on more than 2,000 acres of riparian reserves, which are meant to protect the life-giving streams that maintain water quality for fish, wildlife, and people alike.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In its haste to approve the project, the agency dismissed dozens of critical environmental issues from consideration, glossed over significant impacts to protected fish and wildlife, and failed entirely to consider the cumulative impacts from other overlapping and adjacent federal logging projects.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BLM\u2019s decision-making lacked public transparency as to the full scope of its plan, but the details it did disclose elicited outrage\u2014in particular its plan for extensive roadbuilding. The project greenlit a staggering 350\u2013510 miles of road construction and renovation, a web of infrastructure that would have scarred the landscape and funneled sediment into salmon-bearing streams.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The court ruled that the heavy logging and extensive road building and renovation involved significant and largely unanalyzed impacts in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Following the court\u2019s decision, we reached a legal agreement with the BLM that achieved significant, lasting protections for the area. The agency agreed to correct the legal violations in the project\u2019s environmental assessment and will not authorize any additional timber sales under the flawed analysis. While a few already-contracted timber sales were unavoidable, we secured excellent safeguards for the remaining forest. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The settlement secures both legal accountability and lasting forest protections\u2014a big win for public lands in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n Our original complaint is available here<\/a>. The court’s order is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VICTORY AGAINST HUGE, MISGUIDED OREGON LOGGING PROJECT! This spring, we won an important victory against a controversial public lands logging plan. The \u201cN126\u201d project threatened a wide expanse of mature forest stretching west of Eugene into the steep slopes of the Oregon Coast Range, an area providing vital habitat for at least three threatened wildlife […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" 20120416164626-CP07-441-001.pdf<\/a><\/p> Summary of Recent Science-Climate Impacts of Natural Gas Production and LNG Export-Edition One FINAL-August 7 2014[1].pdf<\/a><\/p> JCPC DEIS Comments - FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/p> Petition for Rehearing - FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/p><\/div> In December 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a proposal for construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, known as the Jordan Cove project, near Coos Bay Oregon, and a natural gas pipeline, known as the Pacific Connector pipeline.<\/p> The pipeline would be more than 200 miles long, running from\u00a0the LNG terminal across privately and publicly owned lands in southern Oregon, and then\u00a0connect to existing lines that run north-south from British Columbia to California. Initially, the project was planned to allow for natural gas to be imported at the Jordan Cove terminal then piped to California and Nevada markets. But the project changed in September 2011 to export LNG from Canada and the US Rocky Mountain region to markets in Asia.<\/p> In this case, we represent a group of private landowners who own property within the pipeline right-of-way, and who have refused to give their permission to Pacific Connector<\/a> to destroy sensitive aquatic features on their properties. Our clients include farmers, timberland owners, ranchers, and homesteaders who have courageously stood up for their rights by fighting Pacific Connector\u2019s attempts to circumvent an important state law that protects the private property rights of all Oregonians. (Watch an interview<\/a> of rancher Bill Gow.)<\/p> In April 2012, FERC withdrew the approval due the fact that the project application was for an import facility though the project is now planned to export LNG. This was a victory, however, the fight is far from over as the developers have already restarted the application process.<\/p> We are focusing our efforts on stopping the pipeline, which would clear cut a straight corridor at least 50 feet wide across rivers and through national forests, impacting riparian reserves, old growth groves, and recreational trails<\/strong> (including a crossing of the Pacific Crest Trail). Endangered and threatened fish species such as Chinook salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, steelhead, coastal cutthroat trout, pacific lamprey, river lamprey, and green sturgeon<\/strong> would all be impacted.\u2028 The ecological impacts have led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Environmental Protection Agency to raise serious concerns over the projects.<\/p>