California Logging Project Tests New Environmental Review Limits

One of the largest logging projects ever planned for the state of California met a mixed reception from an appeals panel Wednesday during oral arguments, as judges reckoned with how to apply the US Supreme Court’s new standards for scrutinizing environmental reviews.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit offered few clues as to whether it will buy environmental groups’ case that the US Forest Service must offer a more specific analysis for a 400,000-acre tree cutting plan, or if it will yield to a review the agency said was within a “zone of reasonableness” under the National ...