Conservation and recreation groups took legal action today to uphold a U.S. Forest Service plan that keeps motor vehicles out of sensitive natural areas in the Tahoe National Forest of northern California. The groups filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit brought by off-road-vehicle users opposed to limits on cross-country driving. In defending the Forest Service, the advocates for public lands argue that requiring motor vehicles to use designated roads and trails is crucial to protecting the forest from further environmental damage.

Camas lilies in Sagehen Meadow in Tahoe National Forest. The impact of off-road traffic is felt far beyond the borders of the national forest.  (George Lamson)

“We already know that off-road vehicles destroy the vegetation, compact the soil, erode the stream beds, and threaten the wildlife in sensitive areas of the Tahoe National Forest,” said attorney Christopher Hudak of the public interest law firm Earthjustice. “Now that the Forest Service has taken steps to reduce the damage, we want to make sure these basic protections remain in place.”

Like most national forests, the Tahoe National Forest in the Sierra Nevada was left open to off-highway vehicles (OHVs) for decades. Located near urban areas and popular with OHV users, the Tahoe National Forest is crisscrossed by almost 3,700 miles of roads and trails. Many routes were neither planned nor engineered, but instead were created over time by repeated cross-country vehicle use.

Road through a meadow and spring,
near Barker Pass.  (Earthjustice)

In an effort to prevent further damage caused by the off-road vehicles, the U. S. Forest Service (USFS) issued a Travel Management Rule in 2005 authorizing individual forest supervisors to end unlimited cross-country driving and designate which roads, trails, and play areas would remain open to OHVs. In September 2010, the Tahoe National Forest approved a final travel management plan and environmental impact statement that provided about 2,000 miles of roads, 385 miles of trails, and 244 acres of play areas open to motor vehicles. In July 2012 several off-road clubs sued USFS to overturn this management plan and to keep all existing user-created trails open to traffic.

But many forest advocates, like Karen Schambach of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, defended the plan and said access would continue for most visitors. “The majority of the routes not designated for continued use were not suitable for vehicles other than dirt bikes or the highest-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles, so very few people were actually losing access, because they didn’t have access to begin with,” said Schambach. “Since limited maintenance funds are available, the greater public would be served by a scaled-down but better maintained road and trail system. And resources like water and wildlife habitat would really benefit.”

“Everyone has the right to enjoy our public lands, but with that right comes the duty to preserve these natural resources for others to enjoy,” said Don Rivenes with the Forest Issues Group and the Sierra Foothills Audubon Society. “The Forest Service has already given up more than enough of our wild lands to off-road vehicles, and we must call a halt to further destruction of the environment.”

An overgrown, unused, unmaintained
Tahoe National Forest system road.  (PEER)

The impact of off-road traffic is felt far beyond the borders of the national forest. When motorbikes and all-terrain vehicles carve ruts in hillsides, erosion is inevitable. Heavy rains wash sediment into streams and rivers, destroying habitat for fish and animals. Those critical waterways provide the chief source of drinking water not just for wildlife, but also for millions of Californians.

“The Tahoe National Forest is big enough for everyone, including people who enjoy quiet recreation activities like hiking, hunting, fishing, camping and horseback riding. Striking a balance means setting reasonable limits and protecting the forest for current and future generations,” said Barbara Rivenes of the Sierra Club.

The motion to intervene was filed by Earthjustice in U.S. District Court in the Eastern California District. Earthjustice is representing The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Forest Issues Group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Sierra Foothills Audubon Society.

 A coalition of environmental groups moved to intervene in a court case today to support a low-sulfur fuel requirement for ships in most U.S. waters, including southern Alaska.

Ocean-going vessels with large marine diesel engines, such as container ships, tankers, freighters and cruise ships, are a significant source of air pollution in coastal states.(iStockphoto)

The State of Alaska filed suit in July against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. State Department. Alaska is challenging the application of the federal low-sulfur fuel standard in the state.

“Previously, the sulfur content of ship fuel was entirely unregulated” said Sarah Burt, an Earthjustice attorney. “Without this rule, pollution from ships burning dirty fuels will continue to cause severe health problems in coastal communities such as asthma, heart disease and cancer. Alaska’s attempt to invalidate the rule is short-sighted and callous.”

“Once again the State of Alaska has shown that it’s willing to sacrifice the health of its residents for the financial gain of wealthy corporations,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re intervening in this lawsuit because we want to keep dirty air out of Alaska.”

Ocean-going vessels with large marine diesel engines, such as container ships, tankers, freighters and cruise ships, are a significant source of air pollution in coastal states. In 2010, at the request of the United States and Canada, the International Maritime Organization designated North American waters as an Emissions Control Area, or ECA. With EPA’s rule implementing the ECA standards, ships are now required to control their air pollution in U.S. coastal waters by burning low-sulfur fuels.

In response to the state of Alaska’s challenge to the low-sulfur requirement, Earthjustice is representing the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund and filed to intervene in the this case to defend the rule.

Prior to the low-sulfur fuel rule, large ships burned heavy fuel oil — a by-product of refining crude oil— which emits large amounts sulfur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx), diesel particulate matter, and other pollutants. Air pollution from ships is expected to grow significantly over the next two decades. EPA estimates that without improved regulation, SOx and NOx emissions from ships will more than double by 2030, growing to 1.4 million and 2.1 million tons a year, respectively, while annual particulate pollution will almost triple to 170,000 tons.

“Shippers, cruise lines, and national leaders worked together to create these clean air protections, which have been planned for year and are already in effect,” said Pamela Campos, an attorney with Environmental Defense Fund. “It makes no sense to step backwards to dirtier air.”

“The cruise industry’s insistence on using filthy bunker fuel means that every single day an average cruise ship travels between Vancouver, BC and Alaska it emits the same amount of sulfur dioxide as 13 million cars,” said John Kaltenstein, marine program manager at Friends of the Earth. “That level of pollution is outrageous; the use of incredibly dirty fuel by ships near our coasts must stop now. The State of Alaska should be more concerned with protecting the health of its residents than pandering to the cruise industry, which makes billions of dollars a years, in part because of its outdated environmental practices.”

Currently more than 30 major U.S. ports along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coasts are located in nonattainment areas for ozone and/or particulate pollution. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have calculated that ocean-going vessels produce 59 percent of the total diesel particulate matter emissions in the area, 36 percent of the NOx emissions, and 90 percent of the sulfur oxide SOx emissions. If Alaska were to succeed in its challenge, EPA’s rule could be invalidated nationwide.

“NRDC worked for years to make less-polluting ship fuel a reality,” said David Pettit, director of the Southern California air program at Natural Resources Defense Fund. “We need to support the Emissions Control Area that will be in place off our coastline in 2015.”

Earthjustice and its clients have been involved for more than a decade in the establishment of more stringent international standards to control pollution from ships, and have engaged in litigation under the Clean Air Act to compel EPA to act to protect U.S. air quality from ship pollution.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center announced today that the Arctic sea ice appeared to have reached its minimum extent on September 16 for the year of 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). This is the lowest seasonal minimum extent in the satellite record since 1979 and continues the long-term downward trend in Arctic ice extent. The sea ice extent will now begin its seasonal increase through autumn and winter.

“Greenland Ice Sheet melting is a significant contributor to the projected 1.6 meter sea level rise by century’s end, which would be calamitous for low-lying islands and coastal areas around the world including Florida and much of the U.S. mid-Atlantic.”  (Florian Schulz / visionsofthewild.com)

Ellen Baum, a Senior Scientist at Clean Air Task Force and Erika Rosenthal, an attorney with the International Program at Earthjustice, have the following statements on the announcement:

“This announcement is proof that things are worse than ever in the Arctic. The news out of Greenland is equally disturbing, which has also seen record levels of melting this year. These data represent an urgent call to act now to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, especially methane and black carbon, which are much more potent warming agents than CO2,” said Ellen Baum with Clean Air Task Force. “Governments can and should work together in making mitigation of these climate warming pollutants a top priority.”

“When Arctic sea ice retreats, the darker water below absorbs more incoming sunlight further warming the region and increasing melting of continental ice such as the Greenland Ice Sheet,” said Erika Rosenthal, an Earthjustice attorney. “Greenland Ice Sheet melting is a significant contributor to the projected 1.6 meter sea level rise by century’s end, which would be calamitous for low-lying islands and coastal areas around the world including Florida and much of the U.S. mid-Atlantic.”

Please join Earthjustice and Clean Air Task Force for an online press conference tomorrow, Thursday, September 20 at noon EDT to take a closer examination of Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheet melting. We will also examine impacts of sea level rise on low-lying islands and multi-national efforts to curb short-lived climate pollutants.

What: The summer of 2012 saw continued warm temperatures and record levels of melting ice across the Arctic. Arctic sea ice has already reached a record low by a wide margin, and melting rates in Greenland have consistently set new records almost every year since measurements began. Rising levels of atmospheric CO2 are primarily responsible for these warming trends, but reductions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane, ozone and black carbon, could have a significant impact on slowing warming rates across the Arctic. Multi-national organizations, such as the Arctic Council, can play a key role in pushing SLCP mitigation actions.

Who: Presenters will include:

• Walt Meier, Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, CO on the Arctic sea ice minimum;
• Marco Tedesco, Associate Professor, City College of New York and world-renowned specialist in the Greenland ice sheet;
• Erika Rosenthal, Attorney, International Program, Earthjustice, on implications of Arctic warming for sea level rise and its effects on low-lying islands and communities, and the urgency of reducing SLCPs;
• Ellen Baum, Senior Scientist, Clean Air Task Force, on multi-national efforts to curb short-lived climate pollutants in the Arctic;
• Rafe Pomerance, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Development, on sea level rise.

When: Thursday, September 20, 12:00 noon Eastern Time.