US, Lumber Giant Sierra Pacific Reach Settlement Over Calif. Wildfire

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Predictably, the clash of the titans ended loudly Tuesday. With the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento and lumber giant Sierra Pacific Industries Inc. trotting out competing versions of a settlement's meaning, their epic legal match over who started the Moonlight fire and who should pay for the damages is closed."



"It was a bitter battle royal from the start between prosecutors who zealously guard the millions of acres of natural resources under federal control in eastern California and the largest private landholder in the state and second-largest timber producer in the country.

'We were out-manned, out-spent and out-papered, but not out-lawyered,' said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner at a news conference."

Denny Walsh reports for McClatchy Newspapers July 18, 2012.

 

Source: McClatchy, 07/18/2012