Stan de SD
2006-09-21 21:52:56 UTC
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6093818,00.html
Judge Restores Clinton's 'Roadless Rule'
By TERENCE CHEA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -
A federal judge on Wednesday reinstated the ``Roadless Rule,'' a
Clinton-era ban on road construction in nearly a third of national
forests.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled that the Bush
administration failed to conduct necessary environmental studies
before making changes that allowed states to decide how to manage
individual national forests.
The 2001 rule prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5
million acres in 38 states and Puerto Rico, but the Bush
administration replaced it in May 2005 with a process that required
governors to petition the federal government to protect national
forests in their states.
Laporte sided with 20 environmental groups and four states -
California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington - that sued the U.S.
Forest Service over the changes.
``This is fantastic news for millions of Americans who have
consistently told the Forest Service that they wanted these last wild
areas of public land protected,'' said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for
Earthjustice, one of the plaintiffs.
They won't be "protected" when they burn to the ground because forestersJudge Restores Clinton's 'Roadless Rule'
By TERENCE CHEA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -
A federal judge on Wednesday reinstated the ``Roadless Rule,'' a
Clinton-era ban on road construction in nearly a third of national
forests.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled that the Bush
administration failed to conduct necessary environmental studies
before making changes that allowed states to decide how to manage
individual national forests.
The 2001 rule prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5
million acres in 38 states and Puerto Rico, but the Bush
administration replaced it in May 2005 with a process that required
governors to petition the federal government to protect national
forests in their states.
Laporte sided with 20 environmental groups and four states -
California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington - that sued the U.S.
Forest Service over the changes.
``This is fantastic news for millions of Americans who have
consistently told the Forest Service that they wanted these last wild
areas of public land protected,'' said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for
Earthjustice, one of the plaintiffs.
can't make fire breaks, clear out dead trees and undergrowth, or get fire
fighting apparatus and personnel in remote spots due to a lack of roads.
Envirofanatical idiocy has already resorted in the needless destruction of
millions of acres of forests in Yellowstone, Los Alamos, and Southern
California over the last decade or two, as well as the death of hundreds of
people and the destruction of over 10,000 homes. The Healthy Forests
Restoration Act was a commonsense forest management initiative that would
have provided critical access and streamlined the bureaucratic process,
allowing states and local jurisdictions to move forward on plans to clear
brush and other hazards. But true to form, the eco-kooks and their slimeball
environmental lawyers (motivated more by court-ordered payment of attorney's
fees than any real concern about the environment) find some judge to mau-mau
and perpetuate the idiocy.
Of course, it will be all George Bush's fault when the forests burn to the
ground, but that's a story for another day... :O(