Feds laundering $ for lumberjacks?

From the Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Three conservation groups are suing the federal government over a decision to give $350-million to forestry foundations, charging that the money illegally bypassed the U.S. Treasury and Congress, reports the Associated Press.

At the center of the case is $350-million in contributions made by Canada to settle a 2006 lumber trade dispute. Officials at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative chose which timber groups would receive the donations, and the conservation groups allege that since the money was distributed without congressional approval or public process, it was a form of money laundering.

Peter Goldman, director of the Washington Forest Law Center and a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the way the payments were made violated federal laws because money owed to the United States in the settlement of a lawsuit is supposed to go directly to the U.S. Treasury.