National Forest Legal News Blog

Montana - The Missoulian reports about Tester's changes to his forest bill.  My favorite - All Lawsuits Must Go To Mediation Before They Can Go To Court.  You can read more here.  Will mandatory mediation help resolve more disputes?  No.  Of course not.  The only purpose can be to put another stumbling block in from of plaintiffs.  I doubt, however, that it will have any impact.  For example, most lawsuits begin with a request for a preliminary injunction.  How would this mandatory mediation requirement affect that?  The bill also changes the legal test applied by the Federal Courts and requires that judges consider the long term impacts of the proposed project.  

Personally, I love it, but the environmental groups are going to fight to stop it for sure.