Court Throws Out Bush Forest Management Regulations
Published by MAC on 2007-03-30Source: Environment News Service
Court Throws Out Bush Forest Management Regulations
SAN FRANCISCO, California, (ENS)
30th March 2007
The U.S. Forest Service can no longer use forest management regulations put in place by the Bush administration in 2005, because they violate three laws, a federal judge in California ruled today.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for Northern California, invalidates regulations that changed the land management planning process for national forests by eliminating mandatory protections for wildlife and clean water and removing public participation in the process.
Among the measures discarded by the Bush administration was a key regulatory guarantee of wildlife viability in the national forests that had been in place since the Reagan administration.
"The national forest planning rules are like the Constitution for our National Forests, and the Bush administration tried to throw out the Bill of Rights," said attorney Trent Orr of Earthjustice, who argued the case before Judge Hamilton. "The Bush rule changes made any wildlife provisions in forest management plans purely aspirational, but the nation's wildlife deserve more than a 'hope and a prayer' planning system."
Earthjustice, representing Defenders of Wildlife, The Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and Vermont Natural Resources Council, filed a legal challenge to the Bush administration rule changes in October 2004.
"The Bush administration’s rules would have undone 20 years of protections for wildlife and clean water," said Sierra Club Forest Policy Specialist Sean Cosgrove. "This ruling is a huge victory for all Americans who hunt, fish, and enjoy our National Forests."
Judge Hamilton ruled that the Bush regulations violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act.
"These regulations were designed by a former timber industry lobbyist," Cosgrove said. "They put the timber industry first and citizens and wildlife last. They would have silenced the voices of citizens in local forest planning, and allowed destructive projects to move forward with little oversight."
The judge's ruling prohibits the Bush administration from "implementation and utilization" of the new forest planning regulations. "The court verified what we already knew - that the Bush administration has used every angle possible to undo protections for our wildlife, forests, and clean water," said Cosgrove. "At a time when wildlife face mounting threats, we need to move towards responsible forest management that protects our public lands for future generations instead of giving them away to special interests."