This past week U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte reinstated a Clinton-era ban on road construction, logging, mining and development in roadless national forest areas. Strangely, Microsoft Word thinks “roadless” is spelled wrong, offering instead “roofless.” Which would also be true. The Clinton ban was called the Roadless Rule (but Microsoft can call it the Roofless Rule,) and it protected 58.5 million acres, nearly a third of all national forest land.

That is, until good ol’ pretend-cowboy George W. Bush rode into town and shot up the place. Because when he’s not clearing brush from his Texas ranch, which he never is, he’s posing for photos that make it look like he’s clearing brush from his Texas ranch, and when he’s not doing that, he’s working hard to turn back the political clock of America to the time when six-year-olds slaughterhouse workers didn’t have mandated pee breaks. Back before the many efforts to preserve our dwindling natural resources that took place in the latter half of the 20th Century. Especially the ones put in place by a certain William Clinton.

But Judge Laporte ruled that the Bush folks “did not conduct necessary environmental studies” before yanking the R.R., siding with twenty enviro groups and four states who sued the U.S. Forest Service.

Which is great news, the kind of great news that news agencies under the Bush Administration are extremely timid in reporting. Witness the Associated Press coverage, which contains a prime example of my favorite kind of sad, soulless, “I’m going to pretend I don’t realize how fucking absurd the sentence I’m typing sounds” journalism:

Representatives of the timber industry denounced the decision, saying it would leave roadless areas vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires because firefighters could not access blazes in remote forests.

Which is kind of like: Representatives of date rapists denounced the new school turtlenecks, saying they would make it more difficult for the nurse to use her stethoscope.

I wonder if representatives of firefighters are worried that it’ll prohibit logging and mining.

Judge restores Clinton's 'Roadless Rule' (AP)

The Roadless Rule Is Dead! Long Live the Roadless Rule! (Grist)