Keep Them Roadless!
September 20, 2006:
Update: Judge Reinstates Original Roadless Rule Marking Huge Victory for Americans, Wild Forests
Litigation Timeline
3/13/01: Roadless Area Conservation Rule was scheduled to take effect, but incoming Bush administration issued a moratorium on all new regulations from the prior Clinton administration.
5/01: Just as moratorium was set to expire, Idaho district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the Roadless Rule. Forest Service decided not to appeal -- action the Forest Service Chief described as "lackadaisical and half-hearted" defense of the rule. Sierra Club and other environmental groups appealed the decision.
12/02: Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the environmental groups and reversed the Idaho district court injunction. As explained by the most recent court ruling of Sept. 20, 2006: "While the Court of Appeal reviewed the validity of the Roadless Rule in the context of a preliminary injunction, it explained in considerable detail its conclusion on that record that the Forest Service had [complied with the law in promulgating the Roadless Rule]."
7/03: Wyoming district court issued a nationwide permanent injunction against the Roadless Rule, finding the Ninth Circuit's decision unpersuasive and non-binding. Forest Service again declined to appeal, but environmental groups did appeal.
5/5/05: One day after the 10th Circuit heard oral argument on the environmental groups' appeal, the Bush administration adopted the State Petitions Rule without undertaking any environmental analysis. Bush administration's position is that this was just a "paper exercise," not a repeal of the Roadless Rule, because the Roadless Rule had been enjoined. The Northern California Court on Sept. 20, 2006 essentially found that it was clear the Bush administration was going to repeal the Roadless Rule regardless.
7/05: Tenth Circuit issued a decision agreeing with the Forest Service that the environmentalists' appeal was moot because the Roadless Rule had been wholly superceded by the State Petitions Rule. The Tenth Circuit also vacated (meaning wiped off the books) the district court's decision. This was a key factor in the court's decision that reinstated the Rule on Sept. 20, 2006.
8/30/05: The states of California, Oregon, and New Mexico filed suit challenging the State Petitions Rule. The State of Washington joined them later. On October 5, 2005 Sierra Club and 19 other environmental groups filed suit challenging the State Petitions Rule.
9/20/06: The Court ruled the Bush Administration's State Petition process rule was adopted illegally and has issued an injunction requiring the Forest Service to comply with the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. If this decision is directly appealed it will be sent to the Ninth Circuit Court, which had already decided a prior case in favor of the Roadless Rule. Until further Court action, the Roadless Rule protections are back in place.
In the possible circumstance that there is further legal action the Northern California court ruled, in likely anticipation: "Further, that reinstatement of the Roadless Rule would lead to renewed litigation is not necessarily undesirable when compared to the alternative proposed by Defendants: to allow a major environmental rule that the Court has determined was improperly repealed to nonetheless remain permanently repealed without a hard look at the environmental consequences, despite an appellate decision indicating that the rule was likely valid and absent any appellate decision to the contrary."
Back to Roadless Rule index page.
Photo: Old-growth trees in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Betsy Goll/Sierra Club collection.
Up to Top
HOME |
Email Signup |
About Us |
Contact Us |
Terms of Use |
© 2008 Sierra Club
|
