Posted on 11/30/2006 4:54:22 PM PST by SmithL
San Francisco -- A federal judge ruled that a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests applies to hundreds of oil and gas leases sold by the Bush administration.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte's ruling Wednesday means that holders of more than 300 leases that permit oil and gas exploration in national forests cannot build roads to access those areas.
Laporte's order follows her September ruling that reinstated the 2001 "Roadless Rule" that prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of pristine wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico.
In that earlier ruling, Laporte said the Bush administration had failed to conduct necessary environmental studies before it replaced the rule in May 2005 with a process that required governors to petition the federal government to protect national forests in their states.
She sided with 20 environmental groups and four states — California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington — that had sued the Forest Service over the changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Good thing we don't need that energy.
It's only pristine if you fly over it in an airplane. Otherwise no one sees it.
yitbos
We literally face wars of extinction that are related to the need for Middle East oil but the leftists are shutting the spigots everywhere. They are strangling us.
This is exactly the kind of ruling the people of the US want, or they wouldn't have voted to give control of congress to the democrats.
No it doesn't.
What is the logic behind this ruling?? That an ex-President's Executive Order overrides the current President's Executive Order. What an idiot.
Hmmm, I've read quite a few of John Grisham's books can't recall the exact scenario in that one now. I need to look for his latest books.
honestly, if you ask people, they would say that this was a good ruling because they instinctively oppose drilling and mining in national forests
but then they will whine and complain that gas prices are too high as well
If OPEC ain't paying these yahoos, they should be.
What are you supposed to do ? Teleport, via Star Trek
The Democratic Congress can pass an embargo on foreign petroleum. Price controls will ensure that the oil companies do not profit from the resultant shortages. Distinguished members of Congress, illegal aliens, and professional welfare recipients will get first priority on any available petroleum products. Congress will impose a declining annual quota on the energy use of all other Americans (except seniors) to ensure compliance with the Kyoto Stone Age Restoration Treaty and to reduce gas lines. Various other laws will restrict or forbid new energy exploration and continued production of existing oil and gas wells and coal mines. The military certainly gets last priority on any remaining petroleum products.
That's the Democrats' energy strategy. The Republicans' strategy consists largely of tax subsidies, clock manipulation, and pork-barrel spending. Few Distinguished members of Congress in either House or in either party seriously contemplate the serious issues of our times, and almost none dare propose consideration of any potentially difficult solution; witness the rapid demise of the vaunted Social Security reform plan and the general ambivalence even among Republicans to Islamofascist terrorism.
The plot follows the sudden room temp assumed by several SCOTUS Justices
O'Connor, Ginsberg, and Breyer all want Judges be immune from any criticism in Congress or by American citizens
They lefties become little Stalins/Hitlers in SCOTUS
That's for sure!
You can parachute in, but then you have to walk out or else live there for the rest of your life.
In that earlier ruling, Laporte said the Bush administration had failed to conduct necessary environmental studies before it replaced the rule in May 2005 with a process that required governors to petition the federal government to protect national forests in their states.
And Clinton conducted real studies before establishing the original rule?
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