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US Forest Service
The so-called Moonlight Fire charred 65,000 acres in September 2007. "What was lost was priceless and will not return for over a century," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Benjamin B. Wagner said in a statement.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Logging company Sierra Pacific Industries agreed to pay the United States $122.5 million in damages to settle a lawsuit over a 2007 wildfire that was among the most devastating in California history, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
The settlement is the largest ever received by the United States for damages caused by a wildfire, the so-called Moonlight Fire that charred 65,000 acres in September 2007.
The blaze was sparked by employees of the logging company and a contractor who struck a rock with a bulldozer, prosecutors said, sending sparks into the dry ground on a day the National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning, indicating a high fire danger.
The smoldering fire went unnoticed because the employees skipped a company-required fire patrol, prosecutors said.
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"Instead, the designated fire watch left the work area and drove 30 minutes away to get a soda. When he returned over an hour later, there was a 100-foot wall of smoke billowing from the work area," the Department of Justice said in a statement.
Sierra Pacific Industries denied responsibility for the fire, and the company's attorney William Warne said that the government's investigation into the fire "was seriously off the rails," Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
"Typically, a settlement signifies the end of a dispute, but this is just the beginning," The Record Searchlight newspaper quoted Warne as saying.
15 million trees killed
The settlement will include a $55 million cash payment and 22,500 acres of land in California owned by Sierra Pacific. The U.S. Forest Service will choose the land, which prosecutors said is expected to bridge gaps between existing national forests and will support critical watersheds and sensitive species habitats.
The Moonlight Fire scorched more than 46,000 acres of national forests in September 2007, killing more than 15 million trees on public land, some of which were more than 400 years old. It also destroyed thousands of acres inhabited by sensitive species including the California spotted owl.
"The Moonlight Fire was a devastating blow to National Forest land here in California," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Benjamin B. Wagner said in a statement.
"What was lost was priceless and will not return for over a century. The recovery in this case will help start the process of making the public whole."
According to The Sacramento Bee, Warne said the U.S. sought as much as $791 million in damages, but Wagner disputed said the figure was actually $200 million or less.
Sierra Pacific Industries owns nearly 1.9 millions acres of timberland in California and Washington state and is the second largest lumber producer in the United States, according to the company.
NBC News staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
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I want a job where it's okay that I spend 30 minutes to drive for a soda.
You should work for Bain Capital. They'll pay you $100,00/year for a job as CEO - even when you deny that you are the CEO. Apparently, there you can drive for over a year to get a soda.
I want to live in a country where the government doesnt rape you for ridiculous law suits because a bull dozer struck a rock in the middle of a forest....
Mr. Thanatos, apparently you've never started your own company. One of the benefits of that is that you can do exactly as you please once it is up and running. Including taken years off if that's what you want and you've staffed your company with competent people to run it in your absence.
What I find amazing is that they can talk casually of a $200 Million fine as if chicken feed.
If Sierra Pacific appeals, it should be tripled for the damage they have done.
Corporations cannot self-regulate !
This could have so easily been prevented if they'd followed the checklist (as we say in the Air Force). You just can't skip steps. And what a shame a moment's laziness caused so much destruction. That must have been some soda.
Didn't I read somewhere 75% of wildfires are human-caused? Think of that before starting that campfire or throwing that cigarette butt out the window.
UAW Pleeeeeeeease
"I want to live in a country where the government doesnt rape you for ridiculous law suits because a bull dozer struck a rock in the middle of a forest...."
Then pack up your belongings and get the hell out. The Government didn't rape anyone you fool, the company neglected to check for fires after a day of logging in RED FLAG conditions. You don't live near a forest do you. Let me put this in terms you might understand,
Say a construction company is working in the city, behind your house, and they start a fire that burns up 1000 square city blocks because they were stupid. Should you as a taxpayer cover the cost to repair the fire damage?They caused it, they take care of it. If that's your definition of rape, I would hate to know what you call an actual crime against another human being. Again, just go away, problem solved.
Instead of making individuals responsible, US government simply goes after the deeper pocket. How typical in a lawyer run society.
Another case of 'Uncle Sam Says', so it must be true. I've found charred wood chips on the ground with a broken piece of clear glass at the edge - odd events do happen.
Another case of "I didn't do it" when it's pretty obvious that they did. Too many cases get settled like this, with the culprit paying to end the case but not taking any responsibility for their actions.
I guess all these "job creators" are for personal responsibility, but not corporate responsibility.
Wakehead, "corporations are people my friend"... Just not the kind of people who take responsibility for their actions, much like he who said this.
The tree-kill companies are among the worst ruiners of the earth. They do way more bad than just cause fires. They turn green forests into dead zones, take over the roads, destroy streams and rivers, abuse workers, and poison the air. Wherever you see the logging boys, you're seeing a chainsaw massacre.
Hope it doesn't go like the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Exxon appealed for 25 years before settling. Hard to deny where the oil came from with your tanker sitting on a reef.
KarlStevens, what is your house (or apt. building) made of?
KarlStevens, did your ol' lady run off with a forester?
22,500 acres, thats a serious LAND GRAB.....
Compared to the 1.9 million acres Sierra Pacific already owns it's a drop in the bucket. I wonder how they acquired 1.9 million acres to begin with. Talk about a land grab.
It's a good bet we, as taxpayers, subsidized SP's land acquisition with tax credits and subsidies.
Once again, left to their own devices and self-regulation, a major company does major harm to the environment - our national forest. That's our land they scorched. The settlement is a drop in the SP bucket after 5 years of letting SP continue to go about their business as if nothing happened.
Toss an SP exec in jail for 5 years and this taxpayer would feel a little bit better about the settlement.
"Toss an SP exec in jail for 5 years and this taxpayer would feel a little bit better about the settlement"On what charge exactly? was he the fire inspector?
I'm not defending the corp. but this "burn the witch" crap is just plan old stupid. Ya numb nuts lets toss an inocent man with a family in jail because the fire inspector took a brake. You dumb ars someone should slap you.
LAND GRAB.. give me a break.. The North American Continent was a land grab from the indigenous people and Euro-trash founders still say they worked to make the country what it is today. That I agree, it's a waste land of greed feeding off more greed. Take, don't give back, cry when you loose, bottom feeding trash. Take credit when things go right, but blame it on someone else when it goes bad. American company's want a free ride. Pay minimum wage, no benefits make a ton of money and leave the country. Money isn't going to replace what was lost, the American answer for everything.
this should be punishable by death!
The federal government should buy all the large tracts of timber land, really . . .
Really! :-D
When it is dry enough, just a hot muffler a few inches from dry grass will ignite. When the dozers are piling debris, a lot of debris, twigs and leaves get on the dozer also. I am not too fond of corporate forestry practices, think they should be accountable. My Dad was a logger until the big boys drove all the small operators out of the business. He would take pains to not destroy the fruit and nut trees. A lot of second tier growth never comes back after the ground is bulldozed. How they got people to believe that hybrid pine is a renewable resource defeats me. Lot of propaganda money, I guess.
And Cheetah, when I was a kid, we used to have to pick up broken glass for just that reason!
"What was lost was priceless...."
It seems like it wasn't priceless at all...it seems like it was worth about $122.5M.
The settlement will include a $55 million cash payment and 22,500 acres of land in California owned by Sierra Pacific. The U.S. Forest Service will choose the land, which prosecutors said is expected to bridge gaps between existing national forests and will support critical watersheds and sensitive species habitats.
The Moonlight Fire scorched more than 46,000 acres of national forests in September 2007...
So, if you subtract the traded acreage, they paid $55 million for scorching 23,500 acres of national forest land .... about $2,340 per acre. These figures will become more important when the government sells off land to pay the national debt.
Hi denver bill 2,
The government may sell land but it isn't going to pay the national debt. That won't happen unless they run out of ways to waste money on things to get them re-elected. They will let inflation make it relatively insignificant, along with your savings, since they can't figure out how to grow the economy. C'mon, you knew that. Greece, Italy, Spain etc. would do the same but they can't because they are in the Eurozone.
Joe,
You are right, you cynical sucker you. And Greece, Italy and Spain can't do the same thing because their national forests combined have about twelve trees.
Good move! Hopefully some other logging companies will be more careful. With the intense heat and insects destroying our forests, I am not sure what is left to be logging. Christmas trees?
Apparently, you've not been on an airplane recently. The US is still covered with trees - MILLIONS of acres of them. Get off the concrete paths and enjoy them.
well get on the concrete paths and see what we lost. The heat is from loss of trees and the baking of the concrete and asphalt.
Fred, you apparently haven't been in a bug-killed forest.
Fred, you apparently can't differentiate a forest from a tree farm. In fact, the natural cover of trees has been reduced 95% since settlers first came to America. Get the concrete out of your brain and heart and deal with facts for once, ok? Thanks.
I hope people do realize that wildfires are a necessary evil. They add nutrients to overworked soil and a lot of seeds only become viable once exposed to flames. I wouldn't say it was priceless at all, it's definitely necessary though.
This shows the QUALITY of worker's being hired today, OR LACK THEIR OF! Not only do they lack the experience, all most companies care about today is their bottom line, and hire the CHEAPEST laborer's they can find! Well, it looks like their bottom line will probably put them out of business! It's truly ashamed what they companies have lowered themselves too ......... MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! Screw the Environment, land, food, water and PEOPLE!
Its a bit scary looking at the forest here in Colorado there is so much beetle kill that entire mountainsides are gray. With so many people living in the mountains its impossible to clear those trees without damage so the govt cant do anything but wait for these fires to start accidentally. If people chose to live in high fire danger areas then shouldnt they be responsible for the costs of fighting those fires? Colorado has spent over 20 mill and the Feds over 200 mill, and thats just this year.
The Waldo Canyon fire burned over 100 homes located within the Colorado Springs city limits. Should they just abandon the city?
Will this 20,000 acres be part of California's bankruptcy? If so, then it should be auctioned off to pay the bond holders of CA. bonds.
Actually, if you had taken any amount of time to read this article, you would know the answer.
I was at a firefighters house over the weekend and got to see pics and videos taken at some wildfires. Amazing how fast they move and how truly heroic these firefighters are. Hats off and thanks.
If we had a let it burn policy there would be more fires but they would be less severe. Let nature do her job.
nature didnt start this fire: a logging company did and their additional negligence made it a catastorphe
Let's see...who should be fined/blamed then when the BLM or FS sets fires and they escape? Or when there are lightning strikes...let's fine Mother Nature? Oh and who comes to the rescue with their heavy equipment to build fire lines???? Yep, the logging companies, the ranchers, contractors. Somewhere along the way some group (you fill in the name) decided to make logging a dirty word. What a bunch of 'dirty word' that is.
If not for logging there would not be cities and towns and clearings for your recreation. How about the big wooden barns or that deck you bbq on - where do you think that lumber came from?
Let's see who can we blame for Mt. Saint Helens?
They said it was priceless. Some trees over 400 years old. 65,000 acres. $122.5mil. That's $1,884 per acre. IF trees were avg 100 to 200 years old, they could be worth on the stump a hundred to $200 each. 50 trees to an acre (a very low estimate ) is $5,000 worth of timber per acre. Now I know gubmint employees selling Federal trees out west are not in the habit of getting those prices for trees - cause they are gubmint employees who tend to see things the way the corporations want them to see it. It's not like they make money from the sale. But if you cut that in half they still didn't recover for lost value. and they never recovered a dime towards the millions in taxpayer expense of fighting the fire. But...... you know those gubmint employees celebrated their victory. Probably took a hiatus to Vegas, ala the GSA, and bonuses and payraises to certain hoi palois. And the guys in the company are crying publicly but in the board room they are hi-fiving because they really got away with one.
No amount of money will bring back anything but as they said money will try to help to build back what was lost but in my book it still won't be enough.
You see man again has done it again killing off what God gave to us for free to take care of and instead man has distroyed the gift he gave to us for free.
What is he talking about ''just the beginning '' logging company settled game over.
He also said the decision would be appealed. So this could go on for years.
$122 million.......Ca. will spend that in a day!!!!
RU sure that you read the article? If so, you would have learned that the state of California has nothing to do with it, other than being the place that the offense occurred . The federal government is the agency receiving the fines. Google: "How can I improve my reading comprehension skills?" for helpful hints on how to avoid such embarrassing situations.
all logging companies do is rape the land.
They should pay much more for what they did!
As if Mother nature doesn't do the same thing on her own, if left alone to do what comes natural by the environmentalists who know more than Mother nature. A number of National Forests now allow burns to basically run free and have at it as we have noticed with so many of the current wildfires. The National Forest Service is that hot on stopping the fires execept around area's where people live.. It is healthy for the Forest..I think this is just another one of Obama Administration orchestrated events to get the suckers, er, environmentalists to think they actually doing something. And just in case you Greenies out there don't know....All that Logging on National forest land is "promoted" by the Forest Service it not just a case of Loggers running amok in the Forest chopping down trees any where they feel like it...and notice how much of their own Land the Company owns and protects,,,How much land did you buy to give to the Forest Service..Like some "Clubs" out there who use the forest to make money to support themselves but give very, very, very, little back in return. On the west coast thank the lord for the Pacfic Crest Association and on the East Coast the Applichian Trail Conference otherwise we wouldn't have the Trails we have to hike on...Cause all those "Green" and "Conservationist" groups just make a lot of noise and do really nothing tangible like buying Land and giving it to the Government, they basically support long haired Lawyers who give the illusion they love the earth more than their bank account and after say 35 years of age suddenly retire to Florida or somewhere...
You are a total fool to blame people who try to protect the earth from those who rape it. You better be grateful for all those tree-huggers and environmentalists, because you'd have even less parks and natural areas if it weren't for them. You are a shill for the earth rapers, boy.
Why should I be grateful for tree huggers.OOOOohh thats right they have made it impossible to get a job.In california mining has been closed(which is the reason the state became so great),logging closed(now big forest fires everywhere),Now they are going after cattle ranches and destroying dams that house hydroelectric power(which as tree huggers should support hydroelectric).So please tell me why they are so great all they have done is cost taxpayers money.Most of the parks you talk about were parks long before the word enviroMENTAList was even in the dictionary.
How about "naturalist"? Long line of them in my family. Wanna call me a tree-hugger? Ok with me. I bet I can tell you what kind of tree I am hugging, the type of soil it is in, and how old it is without cutting it down. I can also give you a long list of native flora and fauna that will never be seen again in my area due to logging practices.
I am not against logging... or wood products. Just wanton destruction and waste. Yep, guess that makes me a tree-hugger then.
I'd rather have those 65,000 acres of land back.
Too bad we can't blame all forest fires on rich companies. Maybe we could recoup some of our money spent to put them out and give the firefighters a much needed raise (and health insurance).
The real winners in this?...........attorneys
that's nothing..how about the billions the banks and wall street stole??? how about some jail time and huge fines....enough to bail us out!
That should pay the interest on our debt to China for what; a day?
Another reason we have to pay so much in taxes to firemen who claim to be heroes while they stand there and watch stuff burn.Our national gaurd is supposed to be trained for forest fires but there to busy fighting wars in other countries.If companies are allowed to go in and cut old growth we DON'T have major forest fires(oh and this strange thing happens people get jobs when companies hire).If you do control burns it also takes out old growth buildup and repopulates the forest,but firemen are to lazy to do that.Our forestry service doesn't take care of forests anymore they are to busy running around busting marijuana farms in stead of doing there job(forestry).Now here is another company just got fined a ton of money do you think they are going to be hiring or wanting to work in the US.Why not blame the crazy enviromentalist who didn't allow it to be cut in the first place because of the spotted owl and now a forest fire broke out and spread ,so lets blame the people with money we can take.Ever wonder why the word MENTAL is in enviroMENTAList.
Jared: Make sure you tell the firefighters just how lazy and overpaid you think they are, if they are on-site due to a fire at your home.
They were on site when my house burned and watched it burned...............
Really - Jaredharvey,
Did your house really burn down while the firefighters watched - really?
Jared: You have my sympathy for your personal situation; I can't imagine having to watch that happen to my own home. Not knowing the details of what occurred I also can't judge the actions of the firefighters.
Was your home too far gone for them to save, so that they had to focus on buildings etc. around it? Was it part of one of these major fires where saving any individual home was secondary to containing the overall fire? Has your community moved to pay-per-play for services instead of property-tax based?
I know that none of those is likely to feel like anything but an excuse to you, but I think it's unfair to judge all firefighters based on the actions of a few and without knowing more about the situation.
Again, my sympathies for your loss.