San Francisco, CA — A federal judge in San Francisco has halted the Bush administration´s bid to log 2000 acres in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
In Friday´s ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer called the government´s scientific analysis into question.
He questioned whether fire control was the government´s motive for allowing the logging.
The judge noted that the project was approved in 2000 but cutting only began this summer, when timber prices were high.
Breyer says he´s unsure whether logging would still protect the forest from fire. The Justice Department declined to comment whether it would challenge the ruling.
The preserve holds two-thirds of the world´s largest trees.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 2:31 pm