EPIC is happy to announce that it has filed a motion for a rehearing en banc concerning the December Ninth Circuit ruling, overturning our previous victory in federal court. In basketball, a full-court press is an aggressive defense, where the defensive side applies pressure along the entire length of the court. It is an apt analogy for EPIC’s defense of the sacred old-growth redwoods of Richardson Grove State Park. At every opportunity, at every court and at every decision, EPIC has pressed Caltrans. For 14 years, this defense has held.
A petition for an “en banc” rehearing is a request for a larger panel of judges at the Ninth Circuit to review the previous decision. If granted, 11 judges will consider our case and will examine the past decision at the Ninth Circuit for error. We believe that such error exists and that it meaningfully affected the court’s decision. You can read our petition here.
Whether or not our petition for a rehearing is granted, there are substantial impediments to Caltrans’s completion of the project. Caltrans still has to complete another round of public comment to allow people the opportunity to comment on significant new information and EPIC still has other federal claims to pursue in federal court.
Thank you for your support of the defense of Richardson Grove.