Wyoming asks judge to revive ruling striking down roadless rule

The state of Wyoming today asked U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer to reinstate the injunction he originally issued in 2003 against a Clinton administration roadless rule, which placed 58.5 million acres of national forest land off-limits to new road construction for logging and other development.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A U.S. District Court judge has no authority to revive an order he issued four years ago striking down Clinton-era roadless rules, attorneys for the federal government and environmental groups said Friday.

The state of Wyoming asked U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer to reinstate the injunction he originally issued in 2003 against a Clinton administration roadless rule, which placed 58.5 million acres of national forest land off-limits to new road construction for logging and other development.

Brimmer, who likened the issue Friday to "Dr. Frankenstein's monster," said he would rule on Wyoming's request in a week to 10 days.

Should Brimmer grant the state's request, it would present federal land management agencies with two contradictory court orders on whether the Clinton roadless rule is binding. A federal judge in California ruled last fall the Clinton rule was valid.

The federal roadless rule has been subject to court and policy battles for the last six years.

In 2003, Brimmer found in a lawsuit filed by Wyoming that the Clinton roadless rule was void because it violated federal land management laws. Conservation groups challenged the ruling, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver decided that Brimmer's decision was irrelevant after the Bush administration adopted its new roadless policy in 2005. The Wyoming lawsuit was subsequently dismissed.

Last September, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco reinstated the Clinton rule.