P.M. BRIEFING : Judge Blocks Timber Operation

WASHINGTON —  A Supreme Court justice today refused to let timber companies operate on the 200,000-acre Mapleton Ranger District of the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, without comment, turned down an emergency request aimed at setting aside a federal appeals court order that blocks temporarily any timber sales from that district.

Lawyers for the Western Forest Industries Assn. and various timber companies told O’Connor that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals order “has shut down the entire timber sale program on the Mapleton District for the remainder of the fiscal year.”