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Posted on 12/06/2007 8:10:10 AM PST by SmithL
In a decision that affects all national forests, a federal appellate court ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Forest Service cannot cut brush and use controlled burns to reduce the risk of wildfires in and near urban areas unless it first performs a detailed assessment of the environmental impact.
The ruling, which reversed a 2005 decision by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. of Sacramento, comes after a devastating fire season that included the destruction of more than 250 homes in the South Lake Tahoe area and a series of Southern California firestorms that displaced hundreds of thousands of residents.
Environmentalists hailed the ruling, saying it halts part of the Bush administration's "Healthy Forests" initiative and what they see as unchecked logging in national forests.
But even one of the federal judges who concurred with the ruling questioned whether the net result would be years of delay before real efforts can be made to protect residents near national forests from wildland fires.
The decision requires Burrell to issue an injunction against the Forest Service that will apply to all 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands halting much of the efforts to use controlled burns and brush clearing to prevent future wildfires.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
This is idiocy
Absolute idiocy..................
Let’s have judges do an EIR before issuing their rulings.
hmmmm..........
Their reasoning seems a little backwards to me.
getting close to the time to burn the court buildings
From Dr. Bill Wattenburg's (the smartest man you can talk to for free) web site. He's been railing against clear cut restrictions for years. And of course every fire in CAL proves his point.
We aren't big on selling them electricity, either.
We aren't big on selling them electricity, either.
Correction—I thought this was a CA ruling, but it appears to affect all of us. NOT good. Living in wildfire country myself, I know how wrong this policy is.
Read it closely, it might affect ALL of us.
I worked through college working as a park ranger and with all the fire load i have seen near urban areas not allowing the park service or municipal government not to clear areas is imbecilic. these judges have been duped by some bad data or agenda to limit professionals form making timely decisions.
It’s one thing if Calfornians want to burn themselves out every few years to get new ‘stuff’, but they shouldn’t make the rest of the country suffer as well.
It is true however, that Texas judges need to and do slap down goofy Mexifornian edicts on a regular basis.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Did you read the article? No? This is a ruling by the Ninth Circus. The ruling affects you to. It concerns policies developed by the US Forestry Service and challanged by the Sierra Club.
It only peripherally imvolves California.
Congress needs to put an end to this idiocy right now. People in high risk zones need to start tightening the screws on their reps to get it done.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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