Decision to reinstate 'roadless rule'

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked road construction in at least 40 million acres of national forests this week. The decision reinstates most of a 2001 rule put in place by President Clinton that prohibited commercial logging, mining and other development on about 58 million acres of national forest in 38 states and Puerto Rico. A subsequent Bush administration rule had cleared the way for more commercial activity there. A separate case, however, is pending in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, where environmental groups are appealing a Wyoming district court decision repealing the Clinton roadless rule.