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Another group files appeal to forest land, resource management plan
By MERRILL GONZALEZ Era Reporter
At least one other collective group has filed an appeal to the Land and Resource Management Plan for the Allegheny National Forest.
The coalition said the revised plan does not reflect the public’s values or desires for more recreation and protection of public resources. The appeal was filed on behalf of the Allegheny Defense Project, Heartwood, Tionesta Valley Snowmobile Club, and five individuals through the University of Pittsburgh School of Law Environmental Law Clinic.
Concerned parties and individuals had until Monday to file an appeal.
According to the appeal, “The ANF final plan revision documents were part of a deeply flawed planning and public participation process that emphasized sticking to a pre-determined planning schedule even if that schedule would prevent the Forest Service from adequately addressing many issues that currently threaten the ANF’s diversity and sustainability, including in particular the explosion of oil and gas development in and around the forest.”
“The Forest Service was more concerned with simply completing the process than it was in actually revising its management policies,” said Ryan Talbott, Forest Watch Coordinator for the Allegheny Defense Project.
“The Forest Service’s preference for a rushed revision timeline sacrificed public participation and quality environmental analysis. This biased the revision toward keeping the Allegheny managed much as it has been since the last plan was adopted 20 years ago ” for commercial extraction of black cherry and oil and gas,” Talbott said.
The last plan, the 1986 plan, was active for 21 years. Revision for the current plan started in 2003 and the final document was announced in March.
Ninety-three percent of the subsurface rights are owned privately. The forest plan summary estimates 8,000 new wells currently in production with 1,250 miles of oil and gas roads. The ANF also projects about 512 new wells per year during the new forest plan period, which could last somewhere around 10 to 15 years.
The Tionesta Valley Snowmobile Club is also named on the appeal.
According to the club, over the past several years, it became evident that the Allegheny is being degraded by the huge drilling expansion on the federal surface.
“Trails and roads are plowed clean of snow down to the mud, winter scenery is replaced by oil field equipment, and scenic areas are becoming unrecognizable,” said Karen Atwood, club secretary for the snowmobile club. “Our members came to the conclusion that all recreational groups who love the Allegheny had to call for change if the Allegheny is to be saved. We call for the Forest Service to place reasonable controls on mineral extraction and to begin restoration on the forest.”
Tom Buchele, director of the Environmental Law Clinic, who filed the appeal on behalf of the coalition said, “The real issue regarding oil and gas development in the Allegheny is not the Forest Service’s legal ability to regulate or the need to do so ” both of these issues are beyond rational dispute.
“The real problem is that the Forest Service is so used to ‘co-operating’ and ‘facilitating’ resource extraction on the Allegheny that it seems philosophically incapable of actually imposing meaningful restrictions on the oil and gas industry. That must end or there will be little left to protect.”
Deb Beighley, assistant director of appeals and litigation for the U.S. Forest Service, said Monday there is a small window where they wait for any appeals that might be “radiating” in the mail before they can give an accurate number to how many appeals they received on the forest plan.
To date, The Era knows of only two ” the groups listed above and the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association.
Beighley also said it may be six months before recommendations are announced by the reviewing officer.
“It is an independent process, we don’t even involve the region it comes from,” said Beighley, explaining that a review delegation looks at the record of decision and evaluates the appeals they receive against it.
Beighley added the decision will reflect one of three decisions: The first is the delegation finds no violation; second, the officers could affirm the issue and add instructions; and third, the delegation could find a need for reversal of the decision and agree that the decision violates the issues raised by the appellants.
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