Washington joins roadless lands lawsuit

SEATTLE – Washington is joining Oregon, California and New Mexico in a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration move to open roadless national forest lands to mining, logging, road-building and other development, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday.

Gregoire asked the U.S. Agriculture Department for an expedited process that would enable the state to adopt the protections of former President Clinton’s roadless rule, which barred development on 58 million acres of national forest across the country, and 2 million acres in Washington state.

The Bush administration announced plans last spring to give states a voice in the decision making, with an 18-month span for land-use recommendations and federal officials making the final call.

Last week, Gregoire said, she got the response to her petition: No.

So the state is joining the lawsuit filed last summer in San Francisco. Oral arguments are scheduled for July.

“We’ll do whatever is necessary to prevent the federal government from destroying this national legacy,” Gregoire said, adding that wild lands are part of citizens’ recreational, economic and spiritual heritage.

“We cannot allow what is happening here to happen,” she said.

Federal officials believe the quickest way to protect roadless areas is through the new roadless rules, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Dan Jiron said last fall.

“We’ve said all along that we look forward to working with states that want to do that,” he said. “Resurrecting the old proposal is somewhat problematic.”