Washington joins other states in roadless lawsuit against Bush admin

[montana500]

www.wilderness-sportsman.com (news section)


"SEATTLE (AP) -- Washington is joining Oregon, California and New Mexico in a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's move to open roadless national forest lands to mining, logging, road-building and other development, Gov. Chris Gregoire says.

"As a recovering attorney," Gregoire, the state's former attorney general, said she had tried to avoid litigation. She asked the U.S. Agriculture Department for an expedited process that would enable the state to adopt the protections of former President Clinton's roadless rule, which barred development on 58 million acres of national forest across the country, and 2 million acres in Washington state.

The Bush administration announced plans last spring to give states a voice in the decision making, with an 18-month span for land-use recommendations and the feds making the final call.

Last week, Gregoire said, she got the response to her petition: No.
So the state is joining the lawsuit filed last summer in San Francisco. Oral arguments are scheduled for July. "

[rodeodance]

1. fight the gov. that is all we do, day after day.!

[glitch]

2. One of the reasons I voted for Gregoire was because she's a former

attorney general. I figured she'd understand fraud better than most and would know exactly who she was dealing with. All these guys are about is fraud, fraud in the vote, fraud administering our resources, fraud in "defense".. get them Gregoire.