Damn Eco-Nazis

[Crazy Horse]

This is going to be ugly.......ugly......ugly

Published: Apr 03, 2008 05:25 PM Modified: Apr 03, 2008 05:32 PM
Settlement being negotiated in lawsuit aimed at beach drivingThe Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Environmentalists and national park officials are discussing a settlement that could end a lawsuit trying to ban off-road vehicles on portions of the Outer Banks.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Mike Murray confirmed the negotiations but couldn't discuss any details Thursday.

Southern Environmental Law Center spokeswoman Melinda Pierson, whose group brought the lawsuit against the National Park Service on behalf of two other groups, also confirmed the negotiations. She declined to comment further.

A hearing is scheduled Friday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh in the case, which seeks to ban beach driving in several areas of the seashore where threatened or endangered birds nest each spring.

Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society said in the lawsuit filed in October that existing beach driving rules don't protect nesting turtles and birds on the federally protected coastline. The lawsuit said an interim plan adopted by the park service was inadequate because it didn't protect piping plover chicks and allowed bright lights that disoriented sea turtles at night.

But the groups said they didn't want to completely ban beach driving on Bodie, Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

In July, a federal judge said he thought it was technically illegal to drive on the beaches because the park didn't have a long-term management plan in place.

Driving on beaches along the Outer Banks has been popular for decades, and the number of vehicles sometimes is more than 2,000 a day.

Last month, state Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight of Manteo asked the state's congressional delegation to approve a law that requires vehicle access to the seashore.

Basnight told the delegation that the Outer Banks would face economic hardship without beach driving.

This injuction would close the areas...............which are the main fishing areas on these islands..............not just from vehicular traffic but all human traffic.

These damn Nazis care more about 5 damn birds than an areas total economy.................ie global warming. These little antichrist birds.............piping plovers................had a place that they liked,  but the damn enviro idjits let it grow up with vegetation in the not hurtiing the place attitude........yet that allows predators to hide and eat the little antichrist birds.

In the US last year 21 damn piping frickin plovers were killed by vehicles....................20 by damn National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife and other goverment vehicles..............1..........yes 1 in the entire US was killed by an idiot. ONE DAMN BIRD and they are going to close off the worlds most famous and utilized surf fishing spot..............

Well SELC, Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife,,.....................and all you other enviro idjits

[Odin's Hand]

Yeah, the enviro-nuts are on the march right now. They have recently banned ATV usage in the OKC metro area, along the Oklahoma River, due to the protection of wildlife in the area.

[Crazy Horse]

Looks like ole terrance Boyles said  to the SELC

I say to the SELC 

Judge Drives Beach-Access Lawsuit Toward Settlement
 

Posted: Today at 6:32 a.m.
Updated: 13 minutes ago

Raleigh, N.C. — Two sides in a lawsuit over driving on Outer Banks beaches agreed to a settlement at a court hearing Friday afternoon.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle denied a request Friday afternoon from the Southern Environmental Law Center – which represents the plaintiff in the lawsuit – for a preliminary injunction that would have banned beach driving until the settlement is finalized.
Boyle set a court hearing for next Friday in which he will hear the settlement, formally known as a consent decree.

Lawyers for Hyde and Dare counties will be present, along with those for the National Park Service.

Supporters of beach driving demonstrated across the islands Friday. Supporters of beach driving held two protests in March, including one that drew 1,500 people, according to media reports.

Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society had filed a lawsuit in October seeking a year-round ban on beach driving along parts of North Carolina's federally protected coastline, including Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Bodie and Ocracoke islands.

Attorneys argued that the park service's interim plan provided inadequate protection to nesting piping clovers and sea turtles.

The park service had formed the plan after Boyle ruled in July 2007 that beach driving was technically illegal, because the park service did not have a long-term management plan in place.

Supporters say that beach driving is, and should remain, a way of life that also supports tourism, a crucial part of the area's economy.

Citing those economic concerns, state Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, of Manteo, in March asked the state's Congressional delegation to approve a law that requires vehicle access to the seashore.

Driving on beaches along the Outer Banks has been popular for decades, and the number of vehicles sometimes tops more than 2,000 a day.

Ocracoke resident Fletcher O'Neal described beach driving as a throwback to an earlier way of the life on the Outer Banks.

"It's like living back in the 1930s," O'Neal said. "That's how they used to get back and forth on the beach."

A ban would cut off access to some of the most environmentally sensitive areas on the Cape Hatteras seashore – which are also the most popular spots for beach-goers and anglers

Fisherman Bernie McCants said access should be preserved to the remote beaches, which offer the best fishing.

"There is clearly a minority of folks that don't appreciate the privilege that is given to us," McCants said.

Basnight said he was confident the judge would steer the litigants toward a compromise.

“There is room for both in my view. It's easy to accommodate the vehicles and wildlife,” he said

happy dance......happy dance..........okay, now what is the settlement