The conservation group Oregon Wild is right about at least one thing: Allowing people who lost $7 million in state and federal tax credits to spend $2.9 million to purchase timberland rather than pay back a portion of what they owe the state is just plain wrong.

The sad and expensive tale of the Rough & Ready sawmill — owners Link and Jennifer Phillippi, and Ecotrust, a Portland environmental nonprofit hired to manage the project — stretches back at least to 2014, according to The Oregonian. That’s the year the federal government ponied up millions of dollars in tax credits and the state of Oregon added $1 million more to get the shuttered mill in Josephine County’s Cave Junction up and running again. It had closed the year before, putting 85 people out of work in the process.

Its problem was simple: In the era of dramatically restricted harvesting of federal timber, it could not get enough logs to stay in business. The state and federal credits, which would be used to modernize the old mill, would somehow change that. They did not, and the mill closed permanently 20 months after it reopened.

Those awarding the credits failed to do their homework. Among the things they overlooked: In the application, Ecotrust said it would spend $4 million to buy the land and the mill. Those reading the application somehow failed to notice that the property would be purchased from the Phillippis — and sold to a company owned by the Phillippis. Oregon law prevented state officials from checking the application more closely, while federal officials said such a close examination wasn’t their job, either.

After the mill’s second closure, its equipment was auctioned off. The state agreed to forgo the $1 million the Phillippis and Ecotrust owe it in exchange for a $2.9 million timberland purchase, which the Phillippis would manage.

If that’s got you wondering why the state would agree to such a silly thing under the best of circumstances, which these clearly are not, you’re not alone. Oregon Wild pointed out that the deal doesn’t do anything to improve the job market in Josephine County. Oregon Wild is right. State officials, including Gov. Kate Brown, should do whatever they can to have the money returned, not frittered away on something that benefits the folks who lost it in the first place.