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Thursday, November 12, 1998 San Jose Mercury News EDITORIAL Pacific Lumber: cutthroat at work The most vilified timber company in California just had its chainsaws taken away for the rest of the year. The California Department of Forestry has suspended the logging license of the Pacific Lumber Co., owner of the Headwaters Forest of ancient redwoods, through which mists and controversy swirl. In reaction, Pacific Lumber seemed contrite. President John Campbell said that the company was ``embarrassed'' by the suspension and will not appeal it. But the company merits no slack. Already, it was operating on a conditional license, which state forestry officials imposed last year. Since then, the department said, the company has committed 16 violations of forestry rules, including cutting too near streams and ignoring a buffer zone for spotted owls. Pacific Lumber announced it would lay off 180 loggers because of the suspension, though logging already was winding down for the winter. Whether there will be a more substantial penalty is to be determined in two upcoming decisions. The Department of Forestry will decide whether to grant Pacific Lumber a license for 1999. More important, the suspension occurs as the state and federal governments are trying to nail down the details of buying the Headwaters Forest from Pacific Lumber. In that deal, the public would pay $495 million for ownership of 9,500 acres of forest and Pacific Lumber's agreement to operate under a ``habitat conservation plan'' on its remaining 200,000 acres. The adequacy of the stipulations in the plan about stream buffers and other environmental protections has been hotly debated. Environmentalists now argue that the violations of forestry rules make Pacific Lumber legally ineligible for a habitat conservation plan. Under a habitat conservation plan, some damage to members of an endangered species is permitted on the grounds that the plan as a whole protects, or even enhances, the prospects for the species. Government lawyers will determine the eligibility. At a minimum, however, the violations show the need for strict state supervision of any agreement. Pacific Lumber has been in the environmental spotlight since it was purchased by corporate financier Charles Hurwitz, and its rate of cutting trees increased dramatically. It knew that the Headwaters deal, which is still not nailed down, focused inordinate attention on the company. It knew that the Department of Forestry already had given it only a conditional license. Yet with so much as stake and so much scrutiny, Pacific Lumber still compiled a record of violations that startled regulators. As they consider a 1999 license and the Headwaters deal, officials should impose requirements for independent monitoring and stiff penalties for violations. Pacific Lumber has demonstrated that it can't be left alone in the woods.
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