Another group attacks Bush over Utah wilds

A national environmental group has added its voice to a growing chorus of opposition to the Bush administration's policy regarding Utah wild lands.

Earthjustice filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court this past week, asking the justices to let stand a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year that sided with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and allows citizens the right to force federal agencies to protect public lands.

The Bush administration in June petitioned the high court to strike the appeals court ruling, arguing that only the administration has authority to enforce environmental laws.

"The Bush administration is asking the Supreme Court to strip the right of average Americans to defend their environment in this country," said Earthjustice attorney Jim Angell. "Fortunately, the courts have repeatedly agreed that citizens have such rights, because it's crystal clear the Bush administration is selling out those lands to their industry friends as fast as they can."

The move has to do with a 4-year-old lawsuit that centers on whether the federal government should be held accountable for damage caused by off-road vehicles in areas that qualify for wilderness protection. The issue dates back to 1999 when SUWA, along with other conservation groups, sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for not protecting fragile lands in nine areas particularly hard-hit by off-road vehicles (ORVs).

In December 2000, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball dismissed the suit, ruling that as long as the BLM was taking some action it couldn't order federal land managers to ban ORVs from wilderness study areas.

Environmentalists appealed the case to the 10th Circuit Court, which disagreed with Kimball and ordered the case back to U.S. District Court for another hearing.

But the Bush administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the issue, not a lower Utah court.

This action came on the heels of a controversial deal between Gov. Mike Leavitt and Interior Secretary Gale Norton to settle a lawsuit brought by the state. As part of that settlement, roughly 6 million acres of potential wilderness, much of it identified during citizen inventories, was removed from interim wilderness protection.

By mid-November, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to take up this issue. If the court decides to hear the case, arguments would be heard in 2004.

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E-mail: donna@desnews.com