Wyoming judge to hold hearing on roadless rule

The state of Wyoming plans to ask a federal judge on Friday to revive an order that struck down a Clinton-era ban on logging and other development in roadless areas of national forests.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The state of Wyoming plans to ask a federal judge on Friday to revive an order that struck down a Clinton-era ban on logging and other development in roadless areas of national forests.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer has scheduled a hearing on a request from the Wyoming Attorney General's Office to reinstate an injunction that the judge originally issued in 2003 against the Clinton Administration's controversial roadless rule.

The rule, enacted in 2001, placed more than 50 million acres of federal land off-limits for new road construction and other development.

While conservation groups promise a speedy appeal if Brimmer grants the state's request, such a ruling would present federal land management agencies with two contradictory court orders concerning whether the Clinton roadless rule is binding. A federal judge in California ruled last fall the rule is valid, while Brimmer could rule this week that it's not.

In response to Wyoming's original challenge, Brimmer found that the Clinton roadless rule was void because it violated federal land management laws. Although conservation groups challenged that ruling, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver decided that Brimmer's decision was moot after the Bush administration adopted its new roadless policy in 2005.

Late last year, however, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco reinstated the Clinton rule.

Pat Crank, Wyoming attorney general, said Wednesday that Laporte's ruling prompted Wyoming's decision to head back to Brimmer's court.

"Our frustration is that we litigated the validity of the Clinton rule, and ultimately Judge Brimmer struck it down as having been illegally enacted," Crank said.

Crank said he hopes that Brimmer at Friday's hearing will reinstate his original injunction without forcing all the parties in the case to enter new legal briefs and argue the issue again.

Crank said Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal's administration believes that the Clinton rule fails to give forest managers and citizens in the state the flexibility they need to make management decisions.

"The major thing is that you cannot plan multiple forest use from the banks of the Potomac," Crank said. "One size does not fit all. Gov. Freudenthal has always believed that national forest planning should occur at the national forest level."

Jim Angell, managing attorney of Earthjustice's office in Denver, said Wednesday he plans to appear at Friday's hearing and argue on behalf of conservation groups that Brimmer has no standing to reinstate his original injunction.

Angell says he takes the position that the appeals court in Denver voided Brimmer's original ruling. And Angell said he's prepared to argue that Brimmer lacks authority to reinstate it.

"He's not at liberty to say, 'I don't think that's fair, and I'm going to reimpose it,' and revive that old case," Angell said of Brimmer.

Angell said the state would be free to ask the appeals court to revive its consideration of Brimmer's original ruling, or could press a separate lawsuit against the Clinton rule.

Angell said his clients, which include the Wyoming Outdoor Council and other groups, are seeking to defend the Clinton roadless rule because it protects more than 50 million acres of roadless land. "These are our last remaining chunks of roadless land in the country," he said.

Angell said the Bush administration rule does nothing other than allow governors to petition the U.S. Forest Service to impose protections on roadless areas, something governors were free to do anyway.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)