Forest Service backs tree clearing in coal mine NEPA dispute

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is telling a federal district judge that the vacatur of the agency’s roadless rule “exception” does not stop a coal company from clearing trees for a mine expansion, as environmentalists argue, because authority for road building is embedded in a different federal approval. USFS’ June 22 filing in the case, High Country Conservation Advocates, et al. v. USFS, et al., in federal district court in Colorado says environmentalists’ requested relief for an order halting...