A federal judge has overturned President Bush's roadless rules, according to the Great Falls Tribune. From the article, "A federal judge reinstated a ban Wednesday on road construction in nearly 50 million acres of pristine wilderness, overturning a Bush administration rule that could have cleared the way for more commercial activity in national forests. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte sided with states and environmental groups that sued the U.S. Forest Service after it reversed President Clinton's 'Roadless Rule' prohibiting commercial logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of national forest in 38 states and Puerto Rico...
"A federal judge reinstated a ban Wednesday on road construction in nearly 50 million acres of pristine wilderness, overturning a Bush administration rule that could have cleared the way for more commercial activity in national forests. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte sided with states and environmental groups that sued the U.S. Forest Service after it reversed President Clinton's "Roadless Rule" prohibiting commercial logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of national forest in 38 states and Puerto Rico...
"Laporte did not, however, reinstate a ban on road construction and logging on 9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, which President Bush exempted from the Roadless Rule in 2003. Bush administration attorneys were reviewing the ruling to decide whether to appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, said Dave Tenny, deputy undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service...
"Representatives of the timber industry denounced the decision, saying it would leave roadless areas vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires because firefighters could not access blazes in remote forests. Chris West, vice president of the Portland-based American Forest Industry Council, said states should be allowed to decide how to best manage and protect their forests...
"After holding 600 public meetings over three years and receiving 1 million public comments urging forest protection, Clinton issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule just days before he left office in January 2001. The rule protected nearly a third of the country's 192 million acres of national forest land. About 97 percent of that land is in 12 Western states - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
"Despite the judge's ruling, logging would likely continue in two regions of Oregon - Mike's Gulch and Blackberry on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest - where timber sales were approved after the rule was changed, said Mike Carrier, natural resources adviser to Gov. Ted Kulongoski. All the trees slated for cutting on Mike's Gulch have been cut and are being hauled out by helicopter, and loggers have been at work in the Blackberry area for two weeks, said Rogue River-Siskiyou spokeswoman Patty Burel."
Here's the coverage from the Denver Post. They write, "The court ruling in San Francisco comes just a week after a state task force forwarded recommendations to Gov. Bill Owens to preserve most of the 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in Colorado's national forests. 'While it is uncertain today how a California district court ruling may affect Colorado, one thing is clear: The bipartisan, collaborative process we have undertaken in Colorado is the appropriate way to determine our state's position concerning roadless areas,' Owens said in a press statement."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
5:47:09 AM 
|
|
