ELR Citation: 41 ELR 20107
No(s). 1:09-cv-00023 JWS (D. Alaska Mar 4, 2011)

A district court set aside a U.S. Forest Service rule exempting the Tongass National Forest—the nation's largest—from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The court ruled that the exemption was arbitrary and capricious because the Forest Service failed to provide a rational basis for temporarily exempting the Tongass from the Roadless Rule’s prohibitions. The Forest Service failed to articulate a rationale connection between long-term job losses and the exemption. Similarly, its explanation that the Roadless Rule significantly limits utility connections is not supported by and is contrary to the evidence. In addition, in 2001, the Forest Service determined that the Tongass Forest plan’s methods for protecting roadless values were deficient, yet it deemed them sufficient in its 2003 record of decision for the exemption. The agency's failure to provide a reasoned explanation for its reversal of position was arbitrary and capricious. And the Forest Service's rationale that the exemption would provide legal certainty is implausible. Accordingly, the court reinstated the Roadless Rule in the Tongass.