From Deseret News archives:
Top court urged to drop BLM Utah case
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson filed a brief arguing that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals erred when it sided with environmental groups in ruling that the Interior Department was not doing as much as required by law to protect wilderness-like areas in Utah from damage by off-road vehicles.
They brought their suit under a section of the Administrative Procedure Act that allows suing "to compel any agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed." Olson argues the 10th Circuit improperly expanded that to allow review of the adequacy of an agency's ongoing management not just whether it is acting at all.
Olson argues that a proper interpretation of the law should be that "although a court may direct an agency to act when action is clearly required by law, a court may not direct an agency how to act."
He said if the lower court decision stands, it "would invite the district court improperly to substitute its judgment and discretion for those of the agency." He argued, "Such judicial intrusion into the responsibility of the executive branch is inconsistent with the separation of powers under the Constitution."
The new case, (Interior Secretary Gale) Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, is scheduled for oral argument before the Supreme Court on March 29, and the sides are in the process of filing written briefs. A response from environmental groups to the government's arguments is due later this month.
In the lower court decision, the Bureau of Land Management was ordered to manage Utah lands, which are being considered for formal wilderness designation, so that off-road vehicle use would not impair their wilderness values; to manage ORVs in accordance with land use plans; and to look at whether more environmental review of activities was needed because of ORV damage.
Olson argued the case essentially tries improperly to give goals and land-use plans of the Interior Department the same force as if they were statutory law.
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