



"We intend to stop this project," said ROAR spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo.


Christo's team hadn't seen the lawsuit yet but said the BLM conducted an extensive, thorough, 2.5-year review in a process that considered hundreds of public comments before issuing its decision, which includes more than 100 measures to mitigate impacts on traffic, safety and wildlife. "We think it's a thorough study that will withstand legal scrutiny," said Over the River spokesman Steve Coffin.

ROAR members had sent in comments of their own to the BLM. "We've been ignored," Anzelmo said.


A BLM spokeswoman didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment Wednesday.


ROAR argues the federal government has designated much of that canyon as an "area of critical environmental concern" and that allowing the "industrial-scale" artwork goes against the federal land-use plan for the area.

Anzelmo said ROAR's concerns about how "Over the River" would affect tourism, traffic, wildlife and the recreation industry have been drowned out by Christo's team, which is funding the $50 million project through sales of Christo's other work.

"You have an agency that's ignored the law and a group of people who live there who aren't being heard," said University of Denver professor Michael Harris, who is guiding the students in the university's Environmental Law Clinic who filed the case.

Christo has said he has a history of mitigating environmental impacts of his and Jeanne-Claude's work, which included surrounding islands in Biscayne Bay with 6.5 million square feet of floating pink fabric in 1983 and erecting a 200,200-square-foot orange curtain above a highway north of Rifle, Colo., in 1972.





Over the River: