Road Ban in Forests Is Leveled

A federal judge Monday struck down a ban on building roads in a third of America’s national forests, saying the Clinton administration rule illegally designated wilderness areas.

It was the second injunction issued by a federal judge against the so-called roadless rule. The first, in 2001, was overturned in December by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco.

Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Clarence A. Brimmer will bring the case before the more conservative Denver-based 10th Circuit.

In a 100-page ruling, Brimmer said the U.S. Forest Service designation of 58.5 million acres of roadless areas nationwide was a “thinly veiled attempt to designate ‘wilderness areas’ in violation of the clear and unambiguous process established by the Wilderness Act.”

Only Congress can create wilderness areas under the act.

Jim Angell, a Denver-based attorney with Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said the decision appeared to block the rule nationwide, even in the 9th Circuit. An “immediate appeal” was planned, he said.

Wyoming Atty. Gen. Pat Crank praised the ruling, calling it a decision that “has implications throughout the entire United States.”

Brimmer also ruled that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it made the roadless rule by circumventing proper procedures and acting in “political haste.”

He said the agency did not allow enough public input on the issue.

“It is in the province of the court under NEPA to safeguard the public by telling the government that more study is needed,” Brimmer wrote.

Angell and other environmentalists said the rule drew more public comments than any other forest regulation and was explained at numerous public hearings around the country.

“The roadless rule has the overwhelming support of the American people,” said Jeff Kessler of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.

The vast majority of property roped off by the ban is in the West, including parts of Idaho’s Bitterroot Range and Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Smaller sections are scattered from Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest to New Hampshire’s White Mountains.