Only Half a Victory

Source : Gainesville Sun

EDITORIAL

Defenders of a Clinton-era regulation that halted construction of logging roads in national forests celebrated half a victory recently. A federal judge ruled that the Bush Administration improperly voided the so-called "Roadless Rule" with scant consideration given to its environmental impacts.

 "This is fantastic news for millions of Americans who have consistently told the Forest Service that they wanted these last wild areas of public land protected," Kristen Boyles, an attorney for Earthjustice, said of the ruling.

The original Roadless Rule was adopted after a lengthy process of data gathering and public testimony. It was the product of some 600 local public hearings and 2.5 million public comments gathered over several years. It was, argues Steve Holmer, Unified Forest Defense Campaign, "the most widely supported rule in federal rule-making history."

In its place the administration substituted a process that would allow individual states to petition for the construction of new roads in national forests. "Based on public comments," says Holmer, "the Bush rule was the most widely opposed rule in federal history."

Unfortunately, the decision is only half a victory because it doesn't impact the 9.3 million acre Tongass National Forest, in Alaska. That's too bad, because taxpayers have subsidized logging roads in that forest to the tune of about $1 billion over the past two decades. In the name of fiscal sanity and good environmental stewardship, it's time to end that wasteful subsidy.