A three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that overturned a controversial Bush administration policy.
The Bush White House had instituted a framework whereby formerly roadless areas of national forests would see some road projects. The new roads would facilitate logging and motorized recreational activities in previously untouched wilderness.
The panel ruled that the Bush policy violated at the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Environmental groups hailed the decision which does not end the political wrangling. The Obama administration should make the roadless policy a permanent one. Those are the sentiments of Earthjustice and others.
On another side:
"Everything is in a state of flux right now," said Dennis Porter, attorney for the California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs in Sacramento, which was named as a defendant-intervenor in the case. Mr. Porter was quoted in the Washington Times.
