Judge rejects Alaska challenge to roadless rule

ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska's challenge to the Clinton administration-era roadless rule in national forests was rejected Monday by a federal judge, who said it came too late to be considered.

The rule that was put into place in January 2001 restricts road construction in national forest areas without roads.

The Bush administration in 2003 exempted the vast Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest at nearly 26,563 square miles on Alaska's Panhandle. A federal judge in March 2011 overturned that decision and the state of Alaska sued to overturn both the original rule and the rejection of the To...