JeepinIan
07-05-2002, 06:13 PM
IF YOU WANT TO HELP PLEASE CONTACT BARBARA JEAN POWELL, EVERGLADES
COORDINATING
COUNCIL <BarjnPwll@aol.com>
THANKS
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Activists want off-road rules to stick Big Cypress restrictions get district court test
Ft.Myers News-Press July 4, 2002
http://www.news-press.com/news/today/020704bigcypress.html
By Pamela Smith Hayford, phayford@news-press.com
Eleven environmental groups warned the federal government this week not to back off new rules that limit off-road vehicle use in Big Cypress National Preserve.
The groups filed a formal letter of intent to sue Tuesday.
The warning comes one week before off-road vehicle users plan to ask a U.S. District Court judge in Fort Myers to throw out the rules.
Environmentalists are worried the park service might delay its plan to appease off-roaders, said Amy Atwood, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing the environmental groups.
"We're essentially warning them," Atwood said.
The environmentalists argue the National Park Service cannot allow "widespread, dispersed" off-road vehicle use without a Clean Water Act permit and, therefore, can't back off limits on the vehicles.
The law requires a permit to discharge any pollutant, and attorneys for the groups said the vehicles displace soil,
essentially creating dredged spoil, a pollutant.
Bill Horn, lead attorney for the off-road vehicle users, said he hopes the court strikes down the plan as illegal.
"At that point, that might mute out any issues that those guys are raising as well," Horn said.
Environmentalists and off-roaders have been in a tug-of-war over the preserve for seven years.
In 1995, the Florida Biodiversity Project, one of the 11 groups in the latest action, sued the park service, claiming that by not having any off-road vehicle regulations, it was violating the Endangered Species Act and putting the Florida panther in danger.
The park service settled by offering a plan that limited the vehicles to 400 miles of trails and 15 access points.
That upset off-roaders. They, in turn, filed a lawsuit in January, saying the rules were "arbitrary and capricious."
Settlement negotiations between the off-roaders and the park service broke off in January. A U.S. District Court judge will hear their arguments July 10.
The groups backing Tuesday's letter of intent to sue were the Florida Biodiversity Project, American Lands Alliance, Bluewater Network, Defenders of Wildlife, Fund for Animals, Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, National Parks Conservation Association,
Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Wildlands CPR and the Wildlife Advocacy Project.
COORDINATING
COUNCIL <BarjnPwll@aol.com>
THANKS
XXXX XXXXX
Activists want off-road rules to stick Big Cypress restrictions get district court test
Ft.Myers News-Press July 4, 2002
http://www.news-press.com/news/today/020704bigcypress.html
By Pamela Smith Hayford, phayford@news-press.com
Eleven environmental groups warned the federal government this week not to back off new rules that limit off-road vehicle use in Big Cypress National Preserve.
The groups filed a formal letter of intent to sue Tuesday.
The warning comes one week before off-road vehicle users plan to ask a U.S. District Court judge in Fort Myers to throw out the rules.
Environmentalists are worried the park service might delay its plan to appease off-roaders, said Amy Atwood, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing the environmental groups.
"We're essentially warning them," Atwood said.
The environmentalists argue the National Park Service cannot allow "widespread, dispersed" off-road vehicle use without a Clean Water Act permit and, therefore, can't back off limits on the vehicles.
The law requires a permit to discharge any pollutant, and attorneys for the groups said the vehicles displace soil,
essentially creating dredged spoil, a pollutant.
Bill Horn, lead attorney for the off-road vehicle users, said he hopes the court strikes down the plan as illegal.
"At that point, that might mute out any issues that those guys are raising as well," Horn said.
Environmentalists and off-roaders have been in a tug-of-war over the preserve for seven years.
In 1995, the Florida Biodiversity Project, one of the 11 groups in the latest action, sued the park service, claiming that by not having any off-road vehicle regulations, it was violating the Endangered Species Act and putting the Florida panther in danger.
The park service settled by offering a plan that limited the vehicles to 400 miles of trails and 15 access points.
That upset off-roaders. They, in turn, filed a lawsuit in January, saying the rules were "arbitrary and capricious."
Settlement negotiations between the off-roaders and the park service broke off in January. A U.S. District Court judge will hear their arguments July 10.
The groups backing Tuesday's letter of intent to sue were the Florida Biodiversity Project, American Lands Alliance, Bluewater Network, Defenders of Wildlife, Fund for Animals, Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, National Parks Conservation Association,
Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Wildlands CPR and the Wildlife Advocacy Project.