The battle of Troy heats up again.

• Position: New Hampshire - Highway bypass construction - Brief Article

CLF has re-entered the fray in the southwestern NH town of Troy. We've opposed construction of a 3.2-mile bypass around that tiny place (pop.1,962) since 1999, and in August 2001 the NH Department of Environmental Services (DES) Wetlands Bureau denied the Department of Transportation (DOT) a wetlands permit for the project. Consistent with CLF's position on the subject, DES found the bypass to be unnecessary from a traffic point of view, and unacceptably damaging to wildlife. It would have indirectly affected more than 450 acres of wildlife habitat, and destroyed more than seven acres of valuable wetlands.

NH Advocacy Center Director Nancy Girard said, "This was a landmark decision. To our knowledge, it was the first time DES stood up and told DOT that it couldn't proceed with a project of this magnitude. Given the political pressures that so often come to bear in cases like this, DES deserves a lot of credit ..." But the pressures were relentless...