On January 22, Sec. of the Interior Bruce Babbitt wrote a department memo "Revoking" the Department's prior policy reguarding R.S. 2477 road right-of-ways, which forms the bulk of the rural transportation network in the Western public land states and is critical to all public lands access from natural resource production to recreation. The revoked policy (The Hodel Policy), set forth by Sec. Donald Hodel in 1988, was an attempt to reflect long-established law reguarding these right-of-ways, which are typically owned and managed by state and local government entities.
Interior Department personnel have been instructed to offer no recognition of any R.S. 2477 right-of-way, without prior authorization from the Sec.unless the holder gives evidence of a "demonstrated, compelling, and immediate need". Babbitt has created a situation where personnel say, in effect: "You can't exercise your right unless we acknowledge that it's valid(or for you to go to court to prove it), and we are prohibited from taking action to acknowledge its validity. Therefore, if you exercise your right, the United States may sue you".
Since Congress has specifically prevented any new regulations, Babbit's memo specifically says that this is not rule making, but it has the same effect. The memo states that the Department will determine whether a right-of-way meets certain criteria concerning "withdrawals and reservations", "construction" and "highway". Obviously, given the Department's overall hostility towards existing laws, these terms will not be solidly defined, but applied on a case by case basis.
This is another example of the BLM being totally out of control! Babbitt is using these regulations as another way to keep human beings off public lands! Congress is for writing laws, not the Sec. of the Interior!