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Roadless rule awaits Obama decision
Colorado rules favored by ski areas, drillers
Herald Denver Bureau
A national committee will meet today and Wednesday in Washington to work on a roadless rule specific to Colorado. It's the latest swing of a legal seesaw in the national forests.
One of Bill Clinton's last actions as president was to put 58 million acres of national forests off-limits to road building. One of President George W. Bush's first acts was to freeze that rule and ultimately overturn it. One of Bush's last acts might be to pass a rule specific to Colorado forests. And President-elect Barack Obama has the power to freeze that rule, just like Bush did to the Clinton rule.
The committee meeting today has no formal power, but it will make recommendations to Secretary of Agriculture Ed Sch-afer, who has the final say.
But it's possible that the rule won't be ready by the time Schafer leaves office on Jan. 20, said Mike King, the deputy director of Colorado's Department of Natural Resources.
"When I look at a calendar and look at the amount of work we have between now and the time we finish this rule, it will put us into the early days of the next administration," said King, who is in Washington to join today's meeting.
Obama has not yet named a secretary of agriculture.
Even if the rule were finished before Bush left office, incoming presidents can freeze rules passed in the last 60 days of the previous administration. The Bush administration will hit the 60-day mark on Saturday.
Environmental groups are pushing the new administration to make the Clinton rule the law of the land once and for all. In the short-term, they want Obama to delay the Bush rule in Colorado.
"Moving this rule forward in haste under a political timeline would be a mistake," said Robert Vandermark, manager of the Pew Environment Group's Heritage Forests Campaign. "I think we need to step back and make sure this rule is done right."
But Gov. Bill Ritter's administration remains committed to finishing the Colorado rule.
"We think that we are on the path toward a rule that makes sense regardless of what the federal administration looks like," King said.
Bush repealed the Clinton rule and replaced it with one that let governors ask for rules specific to their states.
Only Colorado and Idaho crafted their own rules.
Both the Bush and Clinton rules have been overturned by different federal courts. Ritter has said he supports Colorado's rule as an "insurance policy" against unpredictable court rulings.
Obama has voiced his support for the Clinton rule.
"Obama supports the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to keep over 58 million acres of national forests pristine," according to a policy statement on his campaign Web site.
As a senator, Obama co-sponsored a bill in 2007 to write the Clinton rule into law.
Colorado set up a roadless task force to write the rule that's being considered in Washington this week. Environmentalists and sportsmen on that task force reluctantly signed off on the rule, but now they are fighting it.
Ranchers, ski resorts and gas and oil interests all threw their support behind the Colorado rule, which keeps most of the Clinton protections but carves out some exceptions.
One of the biggest points of contention is when to allow roads for logging to clear away fuel for potential wildfires.
Ryan Demmy Bidwell of Durango-based Colorado Wild is in Washington today. He will argue on behalf of Colorado environmentalists that the current draft of the rule allows too many exceptions for logging.
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