Ruling on management of roadless wilderness areas will cause more destructive forest fires

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The usual enviromental groups sued in the Ninth District Court and, in 2006, Magistrate Laporte concluded that the State Petitions procedure violated NEPA because it was not accompanied by an EIS. In the strangest twist of legal logic, she then reinstated the illegal Roadless Rule, and ordered that the USFS comply with its terms. She made that ruling despite Judge Brimmer's earlier decision, despite the fact that Judge Brimmer reached his conclusions after a comprehensive review of the Administrative Record, and despite the fact that she had no idea as to whether the Roadless Rule complied with NEPA or not. Her decision was odd to say the least, which is confirmed by the fact that the State Petitions procedure was not an environmental action per se but a remedy to fix the original defective and illegal Roadless Rule EIS. Requiring an EIS to fix an EIS sets up an infinite loop of EIS's. Wyoming again filed suit in an attempt to fix the mess created by Magistrate Laporte's decision. In August 2008, Judge Brimmer issued yet another permanent national injunction against the Roadless Rule...In short, Judge Brimmer found that the USFS was more concerned about the political legacy of President Clinton than it was in complying with NEPA and the Wilderness Act...Judge Brimmer is the only federal judges that has reviewed the Administrative Record related to the Roadless Rule. Magistrate Laporte has never reviewed the Roadless Rule Administrative Record because it was never before her. Her analysis was supposed to be limited to whether the State Petition procedure passed legal muster. While she may have had the authority to look at that issue, she surely never had the authority to evaluate the legality or enforceability of the Roadless Rule....