Environmentalists Fail in Bid to Block Illinois Logging Project

The US Forest Service can proceed with a commercial logging project in the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois after a federal judge found the agency likely didn’t violate the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved the plan.

The environmental groups seeking to block the McCormick Oak-Hickory Restoration Project argued the presence of endangered bats in the project area was an “extraordinary circumstance” that required an assessment of the environmental impact of the planned logging. But Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel of the US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in a Thursday order said the Forest Service ...