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Quoted from appended news release:
[Greg Adair, Director of FOYV, stated; "The problem in Yosemite is the Park Service vision of upscale hotel rooms, reduction of family camping opportunities, and the implementation of an urban mass transit busing scheme and with that, price increases that will push average Americans away. In addition to failing to protect the river, the park's invalid planning documents accommodate this growing threat of commercialism."
Adair added: "The court's order also is a vindication of the role of small citizen groups holding the government accountable to the law, and protecting places we all love. The Park Service recently grumbled that citizens are standing in the way of the agency moving forward in Yosemite. They're wrong. The direction given by this court suggests that NPS has it backwards."]
I offer congratulations to Friends of Yosemite Valley and everyone involved in this effort to watch-dog the National Park Service and ensure that the laws of the land are followed.
More to the point, I thank FOYV for being one of America's most effective grassroots organizations when it comes to actually slowing the industrial tourism juggernaut that currently threats our National Parks with increased commercialization and rampant Disneyfication.
Scott
--- NEWS RELEASE ---
For Immediate Release, 6 November 2006
Federal Court Halts Construction in Yosemite
A
federal court has halted several new construction and ground-disturbing
projects affecting Yosemite National Park's Merced River. In July the
same court ruled that the latest version of a plan for the river was
invalid.* These rulings by Judge Anthony Ishii of the US District Court
come two years after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the park
to prepare a "new or revised" plan for the Merced.
The most recent ruling, issued late Friday, makes explicit that the
National Park Service (NPS) must follow the law and prepare a valid
plan to protect the Merced River before proceeding with construction
activities which would harm the river environment. The NPS had argued
that despite the lack of a protective plan, it should be allowed to
proceed with multiple construction projects within the river corridor.
The NPS was opposed by plaintiffs Friends of Yosemite Valley (FOYV),
and Mariposans for the Environment and Responsible Government (MERG).
Friday's order stops all nine projects as requested by the plaintiffs.
These include routing a new roadway closer to the Merced, constructing
upscale hotel units, developing new RV motor coach sites with hook-ups,
paving, and other new construction that would usher in even more
development while reducing family camping opportunities in Yosemite
Valley.
Yosemite is now well past the legal deadline to produce a valid Merced
River Plan. Plaintiffs' attorney Julia Olson said, "For sixteen years
development has proceeded in the absence of a valid Merced River
Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP), placing the construction cart
before the planning horse. It is like building a house without any
architectural or structural plans." Olson also stated: "For six years
we argued that the Merced was completely unprotected and that a host of
construction projects should be halted. The Court has now forcefully
agreed with us."
Judge Anthony Ishii agreed with plaintiffs and explained in the ruling
that the NPS is "simply incorrect" in believing that they have
fulfilled the requirements for proper environmental analysis. The judge
also acknowledged in his ruling that plaintiffs successfully
demonstrated that activities the park service labels restoration have
been anchoring "implementation of other projects" such as a multi-phase
utilities project, calling into question user capacity for the Merced
River corridor.
The judge dismissed the Park Service's request for a now unspecified
amount of time to prepare a new plan for the Merced. Placing
responsibility for delays squarely with the NPS, the ruling states: "It
is unfortunate that delay has now increased ...but NPS' failure to
provide a valid CMP cannot form a basis for allowing decisions
regarding user capacity to be prejudiced."
Greg Adair, Director of FOYV, stated; "The problem in Yosemite is the
Park Service vision of upscale hotel rooms, reduction of family camping
opportunities, and the implementation of an urban mass transit busing
scheme and with that, price increases that will push average Americans
away. In addition to failing to protect the river, the park's invalid
planning documents accommodate this growing threat of commercialism."
Adair added: "The court's order also is a vindication of the role of
small citizen groups holding the government accountable to the law, and
protecting places we all love. The Park Service recently grumbled that
citizens are standing in the way of the agency moving forward in
Yosemite. They're wrong. The direction given by this court suggests
that NPS has it backwards."
Contacts:
Greg Adair
Director, Friends of Yosemite Valley
209-379-9337 / 209-379-2832
Julia Olson,
Lead Plaintiffs' Attorney
541-344-7066
* July Press Release, see: www.yosemitevalley.org
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