1. FORESTS:
Split appeals court orders new environmental study of Sierra Nevada plan
A federal appeals court today found flaws in a U.S. Forest Service environmental review concerning a management plan for national forests in the Sierra Nevada. The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, splitting 2-1, concluded that the service's 2004 environmental impact statement had failed to properly analyze how a proposed forest plan would affect fish as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Go to story #1