In September, a group of conservation organisations, including FSC US, filed a suit against the Bush Administration, alleging that $350m (£225m) had been illegally steered from Canadian settlement funds to "Bush-selected timber industry-dominated forestry foundations" without public process or Congressional approval.

The suit alleges that this money should have gone to the US Treasury. "How this money is spent should have been up to Congress, not timber industry executives in a backroom deal with the Administration," said Bill Snape, Senior Attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

However, FSC IC said today (27 October 2008) that "the views expressed within the legal action are not necessarily those of FSC, excepting those that support established FSC policies and standards for responsible forest management. FSC takes no position on the Softwood Lumber Agreement, nor the lawsuit”.

It added: "in certain instances NIs do not engage in our international framework and act independently of us and each other. A recent lawsuit filed by FSC US and other conservation organisations against the US government is an example of the independent nature of NI decisions at the national level."

The lawsuit was brought by Washington Forest Law Center, a Seattle-based public interest law firm, on behalf of the plaintiffs in federal court in Seattle against the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.