Earthrise wins mining case against USFS
In May of 2013, Earthrise Managing Attorney, Tom Buchele, and his co-counsel, Roger Flynn of the Western Action Mining Project, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Gifford Pinchot Task Force challenging a permit issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to allow mineral prospecting on public lands immediately adjacent to the Mount St. Helens National Monument.
On July 2, 2014, just in time for the 4th of July celebrations, the federal district court in Portland, Oregon, issued a lengthy opinion [see link below] upholding many the claims in that lawsuit. The Court found violations of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, the National Forest Management Act and multiple violations of the National Environmental Policy Act.
Beginning in 2011, more than a dozen Earthrise students have worked on various aspects of this case, and their work was instrumental in achieving this victory for the area’s streams and forests and for all the critters and members of the public who use the area.
Click here to view the opinion by Judge Hernandez.
Click here to view an article by The Columbian on our win.
