9th Circuit Ruling: Clean Water Act Applies to Logging Roads

After a lengthy wait, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals released a spectacular opinion today titled NEDC v. Brown, which addresses the application of the Clean Water Act to logging roads.  Previously these roads and any pollution that came from them were exempted from compliance with the Clean Water Act and it's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which regulates pollution from point sources. 

With this landmark ruling, these roads will now be regulated and their impacts accounted for.  While this case was brought concerning pollution from two logging roads on an Oregon State Forest, the Tillamook, it will have far reaching consequences for roads on both federal and private lands.

Maybe now the Forest Service will have to face the reality of their decaying road system and its real impact on the water resources of our nation.

Congratulations to NEDC, CRAG, and the Washington Forest Law Center for this hard fought win.  You can read summaries by WFLC and CRAG here and here.

The full opinion can be downloaded from the website of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Case No. 07-35266.