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Judge overturns Bush plan on roadless forests
ap on Riverside Press Enterprise ^ | 9/20/06 | Terence Chea - ap

Posted on 09/20/2006 10:30:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge

SAN FRANCISCO

A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the Bush administration's rules on road construction in untouched areas of national forests and reinstated a Clinton-era ban on new roads in nearly a third of federal forests.

U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte sided with states and environmentalists who sued the U.S. Forest Service after it reversed Clinton's "Roadless Rule" that prohibited logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of forest land in 38 states and Puerto Rico.

In May 2005, the Bush administration replaced the Clinton rule with a voluntary state-by-state petition process that the plaintiffs claimed violated federal environmental laws.

Laporte's ruling Wednesday overturned Bush's "State Petitions Rule."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: bush; forests; judge; judgelaporte; laporte; overturns; plan; roadless; roadlessrule
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Technically, Judge Laporte is a Magistrate Judge, not a U.S. District Judge altho I see numerous online references to her as being such.
1 posted on 09/20/2006 10:30:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge
Guess they're just stalling until they get a real Federal Judge to do the dirty deed.
2 posted on 09/20/2006 10:33:09 AM PDT by demkicker (democrats, terrorists, Powell, McCain, Graham & Collins are intimate bedfellows)
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To: NormsRevenge

Can we get an EXECUTIVE ORDER here?


3 posted on 09/20/2006 10:33:18 AM PDT by Niteranger68 (I gigged your peace frog.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Wasn't she the nitwit judge who banned the Navy from using its new sonar system?


4 posted on 09/20/2006 10:34:18 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat

"Wasn't she the nitwit judge who banned the Navy from using its new sonar system?"

Indeed she was.


5 posted on 09/20/2006 10:36:02 AM PDT by chambley1
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To: chambley1

Consistent with shutting down the entire Northwest timber industry for a spotted owl who just happened to live happily under the eaves of a K-Mart across the street from the lib-nut eco-warrior headquarters.


6 posted on 09/20/2006 10:38:53 AM PDT by chambley1
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To: NormsRevenge

Let's hope for this to be quickly overturned.


7 posted on 09/20/2006 10:41:43 AM PDT by jdsteel ('nuff said (old Marvel Comics reference....))
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To: Diddle E. Squat

Wasn't she the nitwit judge who banned the Navy from using its new sonar system?


The same Judge..


8 posted on 09/20/2006 10:43:16 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ......Help the "Pendleton 8' and families -- http://www.freerepublic.com/~normsrevenge/)
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To: NormsRevenge
This weekend I'm selling timber off of my land which happens to be in the middle of Ottawa National Forest.
Logging is farming. Trees are produce we don't eat. The Forest Service is supposed to set up timber sales and make sure the forests are taken care of in a way that produces a maximum yield of forest products for the years and generations to come. Clinton destroyed all of this.
9 posted on 09/20/2006 10:46:48 AM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: NormsRevenge

What the hell is going on with these out-of-control mini-dictators?!!!


10 posted on 09/20/2006 10:51:41 AM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: NormsRevenge

Further cementing the control of us all by Washington.

Do actual Americans have ANY say in this country anymore? Is every decision to be made by the robed elite?

States, like with abortion, should be able to decide this, and shouldn't be controlled by pols on high. Can't have the people decide anything because WE know better than the fools.


11 posted on 09/20/2006 10:53:06 AM PDT by subterfuge (Do your part to educate a Democrat and keep on FReeping!!)
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To: NormsRevenge
A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the Bush administration's rules on road construction in untouched areas of national forests and reinstated a Clinton-era ban on new roads in nearly a third of federal forests.

Bush is the current Commander-in-Chief. A rule made by Clinton can be changed by Bush. This is an absolutely asinine ruling.

12 posted on 09/20/2006 10:54:11 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: NormsRevenge
I agree with the Xlintoon and this Judge.

(Look Out! Mega Sarcasm Alert!)

How else can we insure that the timberland and native animals that reside within are totally destroyed by forest fires!!!

Smokey should devour the Xlintoon and Judge. The libs can then play "Does a bear Lib himself in the woods."

But then they will ask, "How can we find the dump@ss Xlintoon and Judge without roads?

13 posted on 09/20/2006 10:55:59 AM PDT by Young Werther
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To: RacerF150

The National Forests around here are still filled with dead trees from the bark beetle. We need new roads to get the loggers in and the dead trees out.


14 posted on 09/20/2006 10:58:38 AM PDT by passionfruit
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To: NormsRevenge
and reinstated a Clinton-era ban on new roads in nearly a third of federal forests

Let me get this straight - Clinton can unilaterally declare this by a stroke of the pen, but Bush can not change it by the same stroke of the pen? I can't wait to see the "judge's" explanation of the "reason" or "law" behind such a ruling...

15 posted on 09/20/2006 10:59:58 AM PDT by The Electrician ("Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase.")
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To: The Electrician
I can't wait to see the "judge's" explanation of the "reason" or "law" behind such a ruling...

And I'm waiting for somebody to explain why we bother to show up to vote in elections anymore, since it's obviously irrelevant when the robed archons get the final say about everything.

16 posted on 09/20/2006 11:18:30 AM PDT by thulldud ("Para inglés, oprima el dos.")
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To: The Electrician
Circa 1970, Congress authorized clear cutting in the National Forests. Included in the legislation was that, as needed, the health of the Forests would be evaluated and policy changes would be made based on the evaluation/study.

Clinton's Forest Service did such a study and his roadless policies were based on the study.

Bush has also had a study done and he put in place his policies based on that study.

The lawsuits are based on the premise that Bush's study was faulty. And the Judge is the one who decides if it was faulty.

The problem for Bush/republicans is that thru the years, environmentalists have come to dominate, thru employment, the Forest Service and other land agencies.

So when Bush enters office, he does what he can as far as replacing individual Forestors and Regional Forestors but he can't fire them/demote them, all he can do is move them laterally or upward to other positions and replace them with someone who is not as bad. He can't do anything about those employed at the lower levels.

While Bush may have a study that justifies his policies, there are large numbers of qualified individuals in the agency, the univerities, state agencies, and other places who are dead set against Bush and are credible in the Judge's eyes.

To really understand this, go to the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics website.

The current Congress can't make these changes either because there are not enough votes.

The only solution is for the republicans to hold the presidency and the Congress for a minimum of 24 consecutive years and replace enough of those enviros as they retire.

Of course, if the pubs can hold power for that long, they can change the face of the entire bureacracy and the judiciary.

17 posted on 09/20/2006 12:05:45 PM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: NormsRevenge

Apparently she supports the position that public lands belong to the state not the people. How Stalinistic of her.


18 posted on 09/20/2006 12:28:07 PM PDT by TigersEye (Visualize dead terrorists! (don't let the libs tell you it's against the Geneva Convention))
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To: NormsRevenge

Court rulings on Federal Forests seem out of bounds. It is public property and the public agency can do whatever it wants with its own property.


19 posted on 09/20/2006 12:30:41 PM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: thulldud

If you don't show up and vote then more and more libs/socialists get elected. Socialist Presidents nominate socialist robes to the various benches. Socialist legislators support activist socialist decisions by the courts.


20 posted on 09/20/2006 12:31:26 PM PDT by TigersEye (Visualize dead terrorists! (don't let the libs tell you it's against the Geneva Convention))
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