Roadless rule survives challenge

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, June 8, 2007

Backers of a Clinton-era ban on logging and other development on millions of acres of national forest scored another victory today when a federal judge ruled against an effort by Wyoming to strike down the ban.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer denied a request by the Wyoming Attorney General's office seeking to reinstate an earlier Brimmer injunction against the Clinton administration plan.

"Wyoming wanted the Clinton rule thrown out," explained attorney Jim Angell of the non-profit Earthjustice. "Right now it's the law of the land."

Had Brimmer ruled another away, numerous logging and mining projects on parts of the national forest untouched by development could have gone forward, he said.

The Wyoming ruling is the latest in a long, confusing legal journey for the so-called "roadless rule" implemented by President Clinton.

Opponents have long argued the Clinton rule put too many lands off limits to oil and gas exploration and other development.

In 2003, Brimmer ruled that the Clinton rule violated federal law. Green groups appealed that ruling. But before the appeal could move ahead, the Bush administration enacted its own version of the rule.

Last fall, a federal judge in California reinstated the Clinton rule. Wyoming, in this latest effort, was attempting to reinstate Brimmer's original 2003 ruling stopping the Clinton rule.

Angell said the Bush administration is appealing the California ruling, and he said it's likely Wyoming would appeal Brimmer's latest ruling to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

"It's not the end of the war," he said.