It’s just an administrative rule

The courts are finished with addressing the Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Rule’s application to Alaska.  The Supreme Court won’t review the Ninth Circuit’s reversal of the attempt to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the rule.  Whew – glad that’s finally over.  But wait, there’s an election coming, and roadless rule opponents are thinking about that:

“And then the other thing is we could just get a … federal administration that’s friendly toward responsible resource development and they can just rescind the rule because it’s an administrative rule. It’s nothing that Congress passed.” (Owen Graham of the Alaska Forest Association)

And why stop with Alaska; rescind the entire roadless rule.  And why not replace the 2012 Planning Rule, too?  The possibilities are endless.

2 thoughts on “It’s just an administrative rule”

  1. The Forest Service is the wrong federal agency to be administering the Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Logging these forests has been an ecological and economic disaster from day one. But the agency insists on continuing its taxpayer-subsidized Tongass timber program — including old growth liquidation.

    These lands should be transferred to the National Park Service to ensure that they are permanently protected and managed for their most important values: carbon sequestration, native wildlife, healthy ecosystems, clean air and water, and wildland recreation. And all of the areas under the Roadless Rule should be designated under the Wilderness Act.

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  2. Almost! There’s still an Alaska challenge to the entire rule in the D.C. Circuit. AFRC continues looking for a circuit to split with the 9th and 10th. Let’s hope they don’t discover that there’s like 27,000 acres of roadless areas in the 5th Circuit’s jurisdiction.

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