NEWSflash: 60 MILLION ACRES RE-DECLARED ROADLESS
9/21/06
Yesterday, a federal court reinstated protections that U.S. PIRG helped enact in 2001 to protect nearly 60 million acres of national forests from road construction and logging. Federal Judge Elizabeth Laporte found that the Bush administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and Administrative Procedures Act when it repealed the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2005.
U.S. PIRG field work was integral in the adoption of the Roadless Rule in 2001. PIRG generated about half of the 2.5 million public comments submitted in support of the rule, while the Fund canvasses, through our work with Sierra Club and Green Corps, generated a big chunk of the remaining half -- helping to make the Roadless Rule the most popular conservation initiative in U.S. history.
Once the rule was enacted, we fought back when the timber and mining industries tried to roll back protections. President Bush ultimately repealed the rule in May 2005. In the year since the president's decision, we helped ensure that Gov. Schwarzenegger (Calif.), Gov. Richardson (N.M.) and Gov. Easley (N.C.) submitted petitions to the federal government to reinstate full roadless protections in their states. We also helped convince the governors of Arizona, Oregon and Maine to begin their petitioning processes and led the charge for protections in Colorado and Wisconsin.
The Bush administration could still appeal the decision. Until then, the court's ruling is a major victory in our ongoing work to protect our national forests and the clean drinking water, wildlife habitat and recreation that they provide to our country.
