(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an action alleging that the U.
S. Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act by approving either the spacious Thorne logging project or the 2008 Tongass Forest Plan under which spacious Thorne was authorized,the district court's summary judgment in favor of the U.
S. is affirmed where: 1) the Plan's provision pertaining to sustainability was discretionary; 2) because the Forest Service was only obligated to consider sustainability 'where possible,' there was no law to apply in moment-guessing the agency; 3) there is no authority compelling the agency to set a specific standard or benchmark for protecting the viability of a species that was neither endangered nor threatened; and 4) the spacious Thorne Project was consistent with the Forest Plan.
Source: findlaw.com