Judge to Bush: A Forest Is Not Just an Inefficient Way to Store Lumber

Another federal judge has smacked George W. Bush upside the head for his anti-environmental policies.

A federal judge on Friday overturned Bush administration regulations for national forests that critics said expedited logging and energy exploration, weakened wildlife protection, and shut the public out of forest planning.
 

U.S. Northern District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton, based in San Francisco, found that because U.S. Forest Service officials had not conducted required environmental impact reviews of their new policies, nor allowed public comment on “clearly controversial” changes, they should be invalidated.

Note that this is also a smackdown of Bush’s rule by fiat. The judge specifically invalidated the rules because the American people were denied their legal right to comment on proposed changes.