An ongoing bid to expand wilderness areas in Vermont and New Hampshire has cleared Congress.
The wilderness bill had gotten tied up during the regular congressional session in political bickering between Vermont’s congressional delegation and Governor Jim Douglas.
Douglas raised issues with an early version of the legislation, which would have expanded wilderness in the Green Mountain National Forest by about 48,000 acres.
After Douglas helped to derail the legislation by complaining to Republican House chairmen, it was revised to boost the wilderness designation by 42,000 acres, rather than the 48,000 acres originally proposed.
Today, that bill was passed by the U.S. House.