Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

President Bush is rewriting the "roadless rule". This rule was put in place by the Clinton administration to protect federal lands from roads, and thus further development. The old rule let the National Forest Service decide about what to do with federal lands and road building upon those lands (strange wasnt it, the national service deciding about national lands). The new rule allows governors to decide by petitioning the federal government.

The new rule does provide local control, but in protecting natural resources local control may not always be the best plan of action? It seems like an end run around having "federal" land in the first place. The idea of federal land was (is?) to have a national policy about use and protection of that land. To turn land over to the control of local governors, and have it handled differently in each instance, may be in some ways desirable (local control advocates) but in that case there should be no federal land and federal monies to support such land. The federal land with governor in control system amounts to federally subsidized lands that the governor can do with whatever he wants (and many have made it clear that their intention is to turn these areas over to logging and other development companies, good or bad, this means the federal land will be used for private companies).

The new rule will allow federal lands to be developed in 18 months. In 2006, each governor may submit a proposal either to continue protecting the roadless land or allow it opened to multiple use. The federal government would consider each state petition and then issue a regulation determining the extent of future roadless protection.

The question then becomes how hard will it be for a future administration to change or overturn the Bush administration rules (as they have done to the Clinton administration). I am sure that most Presidents like the rules they make and try to entrench them in any way they can. This becomes important in this case because there may not be a Bush administration to petition to in 18 months.

See linked article for more details.

  Bush plan drops logging ban for national forests