Monique Merrill

PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) — The question of whether two logging companies conspired to monopolize markets in an eastern Oregon forest came before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday as a coalition urged the court to revive its antitrust challenge.

U.S. Circuit Judge Milan Smith, a George W. Bush appointee, noted the case was unlike other antitrust suits.

“This is a kind of unique situation,” Smith said. “You got an exclusive government contract — almost all the antitrust cases we deal with involve private parties, and we don’t have that here.”

In 2013, the U.S. Forest Service granted the logging company Iron Triangle a 10-year stewardship contract for the Malheur National Forest, as well as associated logging rights.

A group of landowners, loggers and an ea

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