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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2005
Contact:
Paul Hughes, executive director: (415) 974-4201; paul@forestsforever.org
Marc Lecard, communications manager: (415) 974-4202; marc@forestsforever.org
Citizen
petition drive launched to reinstate roadless protections
Asks Bush to stop logging, development on wild forests
San Francisco—Forests Forever announced today that it is joining
74 other conservation groups to ask Californians and Americans across
the nation to petition the U.S. government to reinstate the 2001
Roadless Area Conservation Rule that limited logging and roadbuilding
on nearly 60 million acres of national forests.
The petition will be filed under the Administrative Procedures Act,
which allows citizens to request that the government issue, amend
or revoke federal rules.
The announcement comes as pressure mounts on the federal government
to protect wild forests from logging, mining and other destructive
activities. The petition will seek to reinstate protections for
4.4 million acres of national forests in California, and roadless
forests across the country.
In May, the Bush administration reversed its own pledge to uphold
the 2001 rule, substituting a new regulation favoring logging and
mining interests. Viewed by conservationists and many elected officials
as one of the most sweeping environmental rollbacks of the Bush
administration, the new rule has drawn blunt criticism and challenges.
Opponents of the Bush policy say it is sparking increased logging,
mining and oil-drilling in the ever-shrinking portion of the national
forests that remains wild. Budget hawks have also complained that
road-building and maintenance costs increase the deficit with no
benefit to taxpayers.
On Oct. 6, twenty conservation groups including Forests Forever
filed a lawsuit in federal district court in San Francisco seeking
to invalidate the Bush administration decision targeting the last,
large untouched tracts of our national forests for industrial development.
The suit asks the court to reinstate the original roadless rule
that protected these key areas.
In addition, on Aug. 30 state attorneys general from three western
states– California, New Mexico and Oregon– filed a legal
challenge to the administration’s repeal of protections for
America’s last pristine roadless forests.
The suit was filed on the grounds that repeal of the roadless rule
violates federal law because the government failed to meet its responsibility
to make a complete analysis of the new regulation’s environmental
impact. Other state attorneys general and governors are expected
to join the lawsuit in the coming weeks.
On July 28, U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY)
re-introduced the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act
of 2005, a forest protection bill with 143 bipartisan co-sponsors.
Inslee and Boehlert did so in response to the recent U.S. Forest
Service repeal of the Roadless Rule. Preparations are also underway
for introduction of a Senate companion bill.
“National forests belong to everyone, but the new, Bush-instituted
process shuts out too many voices and provides virtually no protections
for the roadless national forests in our state,” said Paul
Hughes, executive director of Forests Forever. “The petition
gives state residents a chance to be heard directly, and before
unwise decisions are made that could permanently affect California’s
environment.”
Groups supporting the petition include Forests Forever, Defenders
of Wildlife, National Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Defense
Council, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society and U.S. Public Interest
Research Group. Combined, they will draw on a base of millions of
members.
Chapters in all 50 states representing the groups will mobilize
their members, civic leaders and the general public via internet
and traditional grassroots methods to submit petitions.
An online petition submission form is posted at http://www.net.org/petition.php?partner=FF
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