Defense attorney James Brosnahan (center, bald) and Maxxam chief Charles Hurwitz (behind Brosnahan) leave the Oakland federal courthouse Monday, which turned out to be the last day of the trial. Photo: John Geluardi. This just in from Oakland: Parties in the fraud suit against Charles Hurwitz , former owner of the Pacific Lumber Company, have […]
Forestry
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Safe Harbor For Owls and Timber
driving. It’s hooting season on the Van Eck Forest, notes a March 1 post on the Pacific Forest Trust’s blog. But — the gist of the post — if the biologist doing the hooting discovers any new spotted owls, the PFT, which manages the privately owned Van Eck under a working forest conservation easement, won’t […]
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A love story
Thanks to Slate (via BoingBoing ) for pointing out this TV ad for a bank, with what Humboldters will recognize as a familiar story, at least until the ending. As Slate’s John Swansburg points out, Joanna Newsom provides the soundtrack song. I can’t say I understand what it all has to do with banking, but […]
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Lady Blaze
Keeping watch over the forest from a mountain-top fire lookout is one of those spittle-pay but romantic, go-nowhere-but-be-exactly-where-you-wanna-be part-time career choices that holds perpetual appeal for certain lonesome, oft-literary types who get itchy around too many people. Of course, the gig is a diminishing prospect as technology trumps practical romance. But in this High Country […]
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A Reader Writes
Last week we received the following letter from a reader — or Googler, more likely — in Waipawa, New Zealand. Editor: I have about 20 redwoods about 70 yr old and have just felled one to use the timber, but I am a bit ignorant of its qualities and how it should be milled, stored […]
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Don’t Cry For Hurwitz
The Houston Chronicle‘s Loren Steffy dries the tears in his eyes long enough to again sing the tragic tale of one of Houston’s finest, Charles Hurwitz. The occasion is Hurwitz’s recent losses — or are they really wins? — in a couple of court cases, including our own Pacific Lumber bankruptcy case and the reversal […]
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PALCO Bankruptcy
The California Report shines its light northward and takes a closer look at the PALCO bankruptcy proceedings. Listen to today’s show here: audio player
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Thompson Blasts Maxxam
… relatively speaking. Of all the position statements filed by politicos in the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and now Rep. Mike Thompson — Thompson’s, submitted on Friday, comes closest to actually taking a position on the case. As with all political communications, you have to read between the lines. […]
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A Eck of a Sale!
According to the Sacramento Bee, the Van Eck Forest, which has sold carbon credits in the past to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, “logged” its largest sale to date recently. Natsource Asset Management LLC, a New York firm that deals in credits for greenhouse gas emissions reductions and […]
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Chron weighs in on Palco bankruptcy
The bright side of bankruptcy — from Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle editorial page: Redwood wrangle – It may be a new day for logging The fabled Pacific Lumber redwood company is teetering in a billion-dollar bankruptcy in a Texas courtroom, some 1,800 miles from its foggy stands of primeval trees near Humboldt Bay. It may […]
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‘The Great Redwood Forest’
A new proposal for the future of Pacific Lumber was unveiled yesterday by The Nature Conservancy, the Save-the-Redwoods League, Bank of America and other organizations, including a local group that includes environmental activists Mark Lovelace and David Simpson. The consortium appears to be consulting with the holders of Pacific Lumber’s principal debtors, the owners of […]
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To Trial Appellate-Level Oral Argumentation
If I read this right, it looks like the appellate court just set a trial date for appellate arguments in the case of People v. Pacific Lumber. That’s District Attorney Paul Gallegos’ suit against Palco for allegedly fraudulent actions committed by the company during the Headwaters Deal. Yes, the one that caused all the fuss. […]