Plenty of environmental groups, longtime critics of the Bush administration, would love to see high-level administration officials behind bars.
Now a small Eugene group is on the verge of putting one there, in a court case the group hopes will reshape the way the U.S. Forest Service fights wildfires across the West.
An irritated federal judge in Montana appears ready to go along with the request by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, based in Eugene, to hold the Bush administration official who oversees the Forest Service in contempt of court for disobeying his orders.
The judge, Donald Molloy of Missoula, has said that at a hearing Tuesday, he could either jail Mark Rey, the undersecretary of agriculture, place him under house arrest or suspend all use of fire retardant, the red slurry dropped to slow wildfires.
“What the judge is saying is, ‘I’ve had it with these guys,’ ” said Jim Furnish, a former deputy chief of the Forest Service who is following the case.
Few cases have pointed such severe consequences at so high a level in government.
Molloy is overseeing a dispute between the government and the Eugene group that goes where no lawsuit has gone before. It centers around the millions of gallons of fire retardant aerial bombers dump on blazes every year, and what the employee group argues — and Molloy agrees — is the government’s disregard for the environmental impact of chemicals in the retardant… [more]
February 24, 2008 | Topic: Latest Fire News
February 24th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
See [here] for some background.
February 24th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Dear Judge Molloy,
Go ahead. Ban fire retardant nationwide. I dare you. I double-dog dare you.
Go ahead. Let’s see what happens. There could be a backlash, but maybe not. Maybe you will hailed as a hero. There could be parades in your honor, your Honor.
You might be our next President, elected by popular acclaim for your wisdom and concern for the Pipple.
Do it, Judge. Ban fire retardant. Put your money where your mouth is.
Make my day.
Your pal, Mike