I try very hard to give the Rio Grande National Forest Service the benefit of the doubt, but they sure make it difficult to trust sometimes.
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Judge orders Forest Service to release Village at Wolf Creek documents
Environmental groups say federal agency tried to hide information
By Jonathan Romeo County and environment reporter, Durango Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2019 12:16 PM
A Freedom of Information Act was filed nearly eight months ago by a coalition of environmental groups to obtain select U.S. Forest Service documents related to the controversial Village at Wolf Creek development atop Wolf Creek Pass. Two-hundred-and-thirty days later, and well past the Forest Service’s 20-day deadline, not a single file has been released.
But that should change Thursday after a U.S. magistrate judge ordered the Forest Service to start releasing documents asked for in the FOIA request. The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by opponents of the proposed housing and commercial development.
“The purpose of FOIA is to let the public know what the government is up to,” said Travis Stills, an attorney who represents a coalition of environmental groups known as the Friends of Wolf Creek. “And this agency (Forest Service) has been trying to be secretive all the way through.” ...
The emails also showed McCombs regularly threatened to influence the outcome of environmental studies in his project’s favor, opponents say. After McCombs’ attempt to bypass an environmental analysis failed, Maribeth Gustafson, a deputy forester, braced her colleagues for the impending fallout.
“Mr. McCombs was predictably upset and it is expected that he will use every political avenue open to him to encourage the FS to finalize its decision now,” Gustafson wrote in 2014. “The Forest has a call scheduled with Mr. McCombs for Thursday, March 27, and believes any major political push would come after that meeting. However, political contacts could begin at any time.”
Stills said none of this information would have come to light without FOIA. ...
For full story: https://durangoherald.com/articles/266721
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