The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it will give the public more time to comment on a proposed rule that would overturn a Clinton administration ban on road building in the national forests, which had placed more than 58 million acres of forest lands off-limits to energy exploration and production, logging and other activities. The comment period, which was to expire on Sept. 14, has been extended until Nov. 15.

The department took this action because “we received a number of requests from the public, largely from environmental organizations, saying that they needed more time to review the proposal,” said Agriculture spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch.

On July 16, the Bush administration proposed a rule that would permit state governors to petition the federal government to either keep their wilderness lands roadless or open them to road building and energy development and other activities. This approach is aimed at promoting greater cooperation between individual governors and the federal government on this issue.

Independent oil and gas producers favored the proposed rule over the “one-size-fits-all, blanket ban” that was approved by Clinton during the last days of his presidency, saying it would re-open the debate over the issue of whether the national forest lands are suitable for oil and gas development. The national forests fall under the jurisdiction of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service.

The Bush proposed rule came one year after a U.S. District Court judge in Wyoming essentially voided the Clinton ban, saying it violated the Wilderness Act of 1984, which allows only Congress to designate wilderness lands. The ruling is being appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. In 2001, the U.S. District Court in Idaho granted an injunction against the implementation of the Clinton-era ban, which later was overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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