When it comes to Colorado’s controversial roadless rule, conservation groups are waiting to see whether the Obama administration delivers a Keystone XL-style victory or the disappointment of delaying tougher EPA smog standards.
An environmental attorney who argued in favor of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule before a federal appeals court says there are only two legal options left for opponents of the Clinton-era rule and backers of state-specific rules like Colorado’s – and both are long-shots.
Just under the wire, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., got her official comments in on the controversial Colorado Roadless Rule Thursday, sending them to the U.S. Forest Service in a letter copied to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell.
The state of Colorado and U.S. Forest Service today announced yet another draft version of the controversial Colorado Roadless Rule (pdf) that has been hotly debated for nearly six years. Already environmental groups indicated the new draft rule falls short of protecting some of the state’s 4.2 million acres of roadless national forest land.
The HD Mountains in southern Colorado were reportedly named after an old cattle brand, not the more contemporary “High Definition” television brand. But a plan by BP America and other oil and gas companies to drill natural gas in the low-elevation roadless area has brought into crystal-clear focus the debate over drilling for gas on public lands deemed “roadless” by the Clinton administration in 2001.
A prominent conservation group today simultaneously praised a U.S. district court ruling upholding Idaho’s roadless rule and looked ahead to anticipated revisions of Colorado’s rule, which it says falls short in protecting millions of acres of public lands from road building projects. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), a coalition of sportsmen’s group, lauded a U.S. 9th District Court decision upholding the Idaho roadless rule, which governs the administration of more than 9.3 million acres of roadless public lands in that state.
The long-awaited revised petition for a Colorado roadless rule was finally submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tuesday, drawing some immediate praise from at least one conservation group closely following the arduous process, as well as some condemnation.
Environmental attorneys were encouraged by the tone of a final 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on the controversial 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule in Denver Wednesday. Representing a coalition of conservation and wildlife groups, lawyers for the firm Earthjustice are arguing for the court to reinstate rules put in place by Pres. Clinton to protect more than 58 million acres of largely roadless public lands nationwide, including more than 4 million acres in Colorado.
In what the Pew Environment Group has dubbed “Unofficial Colorado Roadless Week,” opponents of the state’s controversial policy aimed at protecting 4.4 million acres of mostly undeveloped public lands will converge on Denver’s Civic Center Park at noon on…
DENVER — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday gave the strongest indication to date that the draft of Colorado’s roadless rule, which allows road-building exemptions for wildfire mitigation in wilderness areas, will at least be closely considered as the Obama administration moves toward a comprehensive national rule.
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