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Show Coalition Backs Rainbow Bridge Decision of Judae Ritter Denver, May 23 -- A coalition of 13 national environmental organizations organiza-tions today entered the Rainbow Bridge controversy. contro-versy. The groups joined join-ed in an amicus curiae (friend of the court) statement filed in U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver Den-ver this morning, backing back-ing Judge Willis W. Rit-ter's Rit-ter's decision in U.S. District Court in Salt -Lake City to limit the 1 level of Lake Powell re- servoir so as to protect Rainbow Bridge National Monement, in southeastern southeast-ern Utah. The original lawsuit was filed by Friends of the Earth, the Wasatch Mountain Club (of Utah), and Utah river guide Ken Sleight. The Department of the Interior has appealed ap-pealed Judge Ritter's decision de-cision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which will hear oral arguments in the case on Thursday, May 24, in Denver. Several of the groups backing the decision were also active in the Rainbow Bridge issue in 1955-56, when national conservation groups withdrew their opposition opposi-tion to the Colorado River Riv-er Storage Project in Congress, in exchange ! for provisions prohibit-; prohibit-; ing dams and reservoirs of the Project from be-! be-! ing within any national 'park or monument, i These provisions were the basis of Judge Rit- ter's decision on Febru-I Febru-I ary 27, 1973. June Yiavant, Sierra Club spokesman in Salt Lake City, said: "The environmental move-t move-t ment is united in support of Judge Ritter's deci- sion. Rainbow Bridge I was guaranteed protec- tion in 1956 by the Colo- rado River Storage Pro- ject Act. In backing the court decision, we're saying that the 1956 com- mitment must be enforced. en-forced. The integrity of our entire National Park Svstem against reservoirs reser-voirs and other destructive destruc-tive projects is at stake here." Rainbow Bridge is a majestic sandstone arch in southeastern Utah. Being approximately 309 feet high and having a '78-foot span, it is the world's largest natural arch President William Howard Taft established it as a national monument monu-ment in 1910, including the surrounding 160 acres. The present threat is caused by the rising waters of Lake Powell, the reservoir behind Glen Canyon Dam, which was authorized by the 1956 law. The organizations signing the amicus curiae statement are: Sierra Club, American Whitewater Affiliation, Animal Protection Institute, In-stitute, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund, Inc., Environmental En-vironmental Policy Center, Cen-ter, The Fund for Animals, Ani-mals, Inc., Izaak Walton League of America, National Na-tional Audubon Society, National Parks and Conservation Con-servation Association, National Wildlife Federation, Feder-ation, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society. |