Climate group's preliminary injunction denied Monday

Matt Baide | Aug 10, 20230

Mason County Climate Justice and the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition had its preliminary injunction denied Monday by Mason County Superior Court Judge Cadine Ferguson-Brown.

According to the judge’s findings, the court concluded for each sale, the state Department of Natural Resources used reasonably sufficient information and that the determination was issued in compliance with the procedural requirements of the State Environmental Policy Act.

“Therefore, the appellants failed to meet the standard for establishing a clear legal or equitable right and is unable to pursue a preliminary injunction,” the judge wrote in her decision.

Julianne Gale, on behalf of Mason County Climate Justice, told the Journal she thinks DNR and Tacoma-based Stella-Jones, which purchased the timber, have been trying hard to silence community voices and get the case thrown out.

“This continues DNR’s pattern of dismissing public comment. But we won’t be silenced,” Gale wrote to the Journal in an email. “Last week, our community turned out in large numbers to say we want Plumb Bob and Sherwood Forests to stay standing as we argued for a preliminary injunction to stop any clearcut logging while the case is decided. We are disappointed that Mason County Superior Court ruled against the community by denying our motion for a preliminary injunction. In her decision, Judge Ferguson-Brown acknowledged that the imminent clearcut logging of these forests will cause real harm to our community. The fact that she did not also grant a preliminary injunction is indicative of all the ways our laws are designed to support corporate greed over community wellness.”

According to the judge’s findings, the climate groups did not establish a clear legal or equitable right along with sufficient evidence of invasion of the right, the imminent chopping down of trees, and the declarations of harm.

“The appellants failed to show that the threshold determination did not take into consideration the elements of the environment enumerated in WAC 197-11-444 but instead argued the extent to which these elements should have been considered or the difference in opinion as to whether the impact was significant enough,” the judge wrote in her decision. “Additionally, the appellants’ assertions about the ‘imperiled plant communities’ also seem to rest on difference of opinion, not factual errors, in the evaluation of the potential environmental impacts.”

Gale thanked the community members who showed up to make their voices heard.

Jennifer Calkins, the lawyer representing the groups, said they are deciding the next steps and considering additional legal options. She said Stella-Jones is eager to start cutting roads so she anticipates their work is imminent.

“I am frustrated. I respectfully disagree with the court’s analysis on our motion to amend. Further, it appears to me that, with respect to the motion for preliminary injunction, the court took the state’s word that it did the work, deferring to the agency,” Calkins wrote to the Journal in an email. “This is not unusual for Washington courts but I do not believe the agency earned that deference because as we demonstrated in our briefing and our oral argument, DNR failed to establish that it complied with SEPA in issuing its determinations of nonsignificance for both sales.”