The rush by the U.S. Forest Service to cut a fireline through critical fish and wildlife habitat to fight a fire that never came anywhere near has spurred a lawsuit in federal court.
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE), a Eugene, Ore.-based nonprofit, filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Spokane. It seeks to rescind a 2008 regulation that allows the Forest Service to suspend all environmental laws when it fights fire, if fire managers declare a state of emergency. The suit also would require a review of the agency’s firefighting program to assess the effectiveness of its tactics and their effect on people and the environment.
Firefighting would continue as usual during the course of the review but could be subject to new restrictions as a result of it. A so-called programmatic Environmental Impact Statement could create general rules guiding firefighting tactics. Such an EIS was conducted on the use of aerial fire retardant as a result of a series of legal actions filed by the same group beginning in 2005. That environmental review placed restrictions on spraying retardant over streams or in critical habitat, unless fire immediately threatens human life.
Similar restrictions need to be considered for other firefighting tactics, said Andy Stahl, executive director of FSEEE.