The Bush administration issued an interim final rule Jan. 9 that limits the public’s ability to challenge forest-thinning projects under the recently enacted Healthy Forests Restoration Act, which allows increased logging purportedly to reduce the danger of wildfire. Under the rule:

• You can only launch an administrative appeal to stop a project if you submitted comments during the formal public comment period;
• Federal agencies are not allowed to file objections;
• Appeals must be brought within 30 days after the issuance of an environmental impact statement or assessment;
• A single Forest Service “reviewing officer” decides on an appeal, and can potentially do so without meeting with the objectors;
• No further administrative challenges are allowed if the reviewing officer rejects the appeal; and
• Exceptions for legal challenges should be “read together, narrowly construed and invoked only in rare instances such as where information becomes available only after the conclusion of the administrative process.”

“This is not about protecting homes or communities from forest fires,” Amy Mall, senior forest specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told BNA. “This is about trying to cut the public out from having a say in the management of their public lands. It will make it harder for people to challenge projects that would damage the environment and do nothing to protect homes or communities.” This action follows a rule issued in December that limited consultations under the Endangered Species Act for forest-thinning projects.