Settlement
Union Pacific to pay $102 million for wildfire damage
In the largest settlement ever for a forest fire, Union Pacific Railroad Co. will pay $102 million for causing the so-called "Storrie Fire" in California's Plumas and Lassen National Forests in 2000.
Sacramento's U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott called it "a magnificent settlement," the U.S. Forest Service's largest-ever damage recovery for a wildfire. USDA Undersecretary Mark Rey said it's also the second-largest settlement for any environmental damage involving federal resources, second only to the settlement in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound in Alaska.
The Storrie Fire ignited August 17, 2000, when UP employees were doing track repairs in the Feather River Canyon north of the town of Storrie. After failing to clear the area and use spark shields, it's believed rail saws and grinders sent out hot pieces of metal that started the fire, according to prosecutors.
The blaze burned 52,000 acres of federal forest land, taking three weeks and costing $22 million to put out.
Scott said the case is groundbreaking because prosecutors in his office used new formulas to calculate the loss to taxpayers in a federally protected wilderness area. He said the loss isn't just in timber, but in the recreational value.
"Congress has said the value of this land remaining in its pristine condition exceeds any timber value that would come from that land. So we start with the fair market value of the timber and go up," said Scott. He also said UP worked on the settlement in good faith.
"They did admit negligence and did admit liability," Scott said.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond said Tuesday that the Omaha, Nebraska-based company agreed to settle after a federal judge ruled against it in February. She said employees thought they had extinguished the blaze.
Rey said the settlement will repay the government's cost to fight the fire, with the other $80 million for restoration and rehabilitation of the timber land.
"I think it's fair to say that you will see us pursuing more of these kinds of damage claims as we deal with more man-caused fires," he said.
"It's sending a message to people that their negligence in causing these fires has consequences," added Kevin O'Connor, U.S. Associate Attorney General.
"I hope that not only Union Pacific but anybody else who is in a position on our forest service lands to cause a forest fire is thinking twice about whether or not they're going to shirk their responsibilities to take the necessary precautions," said O'Connor.
(Published by News10 - july 23, 2008)