Oregon's logging industry scored a victory when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Clean Water Act permits were not required on active logging roads.
The U.S. Supreme Court on a 7-to-1 vote Wednesday ruled that Oregon loggers will not have to obtain Clean Water Act permits on active logging roads.
The ruling upheld Oregon's existing rules governing stormwater discharges and delivered a victory to the state's logging industry, which, as the Oregonian reported, had claimed the permits would cause "regulatory chaos."
Timber companies and the state appealed an earlier 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requiring the permits.
The Portland-based Environmental Defense Center filed the original cases requesting additional regulation in 2006.
In its ruling the court stated that Oregon has "made an extensive effort to develop a set of best practices to manage stormwater runoff from logging roads. These practices include rules mandating filtration of stormwater runoff before it enters rivers and streams."
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