You hear alot about conflicts between labor and environmental groups. There’s some news from spotted owl country, though, that shows the divisions are sometimes exaggerated:

In their lawsuits, the environmental and labor groups said that the state agency, rushing to meet a March 1999 deadline for approval, gave short shrift to the likely effects of 10 years of heavy logging. They said state law requires economic projections for 100 years into the future.

“The agency said it was only going to look at (the effects on employment and the regional economy) for 10 years,'’ Jonathan Weissglass, a lawyer for the steelworkers, said Thursday. “You can say everything’s sustainable for 10 years, but 20 years down the road (there may be) a bust cycle with no jobs in an economy dependent on timber.'’