APPEALS COURT CLEARS ROADBLOCK FOR CONSTRUCTION OF NEW TELESCOPE.

Byline: Bob Egelko Associated Press 

A powerful mountaintop telescope in southeastern Arizona, long stalled by environmentalists, won approval Monday from a federal appeals court that cited recent congressional action.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had blocked the Mount Graham telescope in 1994, saying an environmental review was needed because the site of the project had been changed. But the University of Arizona, sponsor of the telescope, won congressional approval this year of a law saying no further review was required.

That action was within Congress' power, the court said Monday in a 3-0 ruling that dissolved its own order blocking construction. A lawyer for environmental groups, which had sought to preserve the habitat of an endangered squirrel, said he had ``no realistic thought'' of a further appeal.

``Once Congress passed the rider (to an Interior Department spending bill) it obviously became a pretty foregone conclusion that it was going to be difficult for us to block the project again,'' said attorney Eric Glitzenstein.

He said the Clinton administration had promised to remove the Mount Graham language from the bill but didn't. Interior Department spokeswoman Mary Helen Thompson said the department had recommended a veto of its appropriations bill because of environmental concerns, but it was signed as part of a compromise spending measure for numerous federal agencies.

After the ruling, environmental groups called on the Clinton administration to order a further review of the project by Fish and Wildlife Service biologists in light of a recent fire on Mount Graham, said John Fitzgerald, a lobbyist for the environmentalists. He said such a review would at least give Congress time to decide whether to change the law.

The university hopes to start construction in a week or two, with completion likely to take three years, said Michael Cusanovich, the university's vice president for research.

``We're glad that they recognized Congress' authority on this,'' he said. ``We're looking forward to doing some serious science here.''

The twin-mirror Large Binocular Telescope, one of the most powerful in the world, is to be built on a two-mile-high peak in the Coronado National Forest 100 miles northeast of Tucson. It would be the centerpiece of an observatory that already has two telescopes.

Environmental groups and Indian tribes have been fighting the observatory for a decade. The mountain is home to the Mount Graham red squirrel, a unique and endangered subspecies.

Congress sought to clear the way for the telescope with a 1988 law that declared no further environmental studies were needed.