Here's the weekly news digest from Greg Giuisti:
FIRE FEE: Ruling could limit impact of lawsuit, Jim Miller, Riverside Press Enterprise, July 24, 2013
SACRAMENTO -- Opponents of the state’s $150 fire-prevention fee can continue pressing their lawsuit to overturn it, but a court ruling this week means any legal victory might yield refunds for only a fraction of fee-payers. Sacramento County Judge Eugene L. Balonon rejected a state motion to throw out the lawsuit filed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and several property owners. .....
Interior to shoot barred owls to save threatened relative, Phil Taylor, E&E NewsPM, Tuesday, July 23, 2013 (subscription required)
The Interior Department this afternoon released a final plan to shoot about 3,600 barred owls in the Pacific Northwest to try to save the bird's gravely threatened relative, the northern spotted owl. The plan has caused great consternation for some bird advocates but, for others, reluctant acceptance. It marks the first time the agency has proposed lethal removal of barred owls, a native species that migrated west decades ago and is now outcompeting the smaller, less aggressive spotted owls for food and nesting habitat.....
Feds advance plan to kill 3,603 barred owls in Pacific Northwest, John M. Glionna
Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal wildlife officials have moved one step closer to their plan to play referee in a habitat supremacy contest that has pitted two species of owl against one another in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. On Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a final environmental review of an experiment planned in three states to see if killing barred owls will assist the northern spotted owls, which are threatened with extinction after a major loss of territory since the 1970s......
Federal court upholds Bush-era smog standard, DINA CAPPIELLO, San Jose Mercury News, 07/23/2013
WASHINGTON—A federal court on Tuesday upheld a 2008 air pollution standard the Obama administration vowed to strengthen, but later reversed itself and kept in place. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington rejected arguments that the ozone standard for public health set by former President George W. Bush was either too weak or too strong. The Environmental Protection Agency's scientific advisory panel at the time said the standard should have been more stringent to adequately protect health......
Importation of logs and lumber to China were up over ten percent, Forest Business Network, July 20, 2013
China’s hunger for wood was less acute in 2012 than in the previous year. In particular, importation of softwood logs fell substantially from the record levels of 2011. Importation of lumber was also lower in 2012, but the decline was much less than that of logs......
Cabinet members, Udall promote wildfire prevention, CATHERINE TSAI, San Jose Mercury News, 07/19/2013
DENVER—Federal and local agencies will try to speed up efforts to thin vegetation that could fuel catastrophic wildfires which threaten water supplies and hydroelectric facilities, federal officials said Friday. The Western Watershed Enhancement Partnership was announced at Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo. It will focus on accelerating forest restoration around reservoirs, dams, irrigation systems and hydroelectric projects to reduce the risk of intense fires......