The Appalachian Trail, created in the 1930s and running from the hills of Georgia to the mountains of Maine, is an iconic symbol of the American wilderness. As described by one of its planners, the Trail “leads not merely north and south, but up to the body, soul and mind of man.” In 1968, the Appalachian Trail was officially recognized by Congress in the Trails Act, which charged the Secretary of the Interior with administration of the Trail. Administration of the Trail was thereafter delegated to the National Park Service, making the Trail part of the National Park System. In 2015, an application was made to the federal government for the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would transport natural gas along a 604-mile route from West Virginia southeast to North Carolina. The proposed route would run through the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, as well as through 21 miles of National Forest lands. Additionally, construction of the pipeline would entail clear-cutting 125 feet of forest on either side of the pipeline route on lands visible from the Trail.
As part of the approval process, the National Forest Service granted the pipeline developers rights-of-way to cross the Trail. A group of environmental organizations brought a legal challenge to the approval of the pipeline, raising several irregularities in the approval process. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the challenge on several grounds, including a ruling that the Forest Service did not have statutory authority to grant rights-of-way over the Appalachian Trail because it is a unit of the Park System. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the request of the government and pipeline developer to review that ruling. In an amicus brief urging the Court to affirm the decision stopping construction of the pipeline, Rutherford Institute attorneys argue that the pipeline development, with its toxic emissions and noise pollution, will impose a disproportionate burden on minority communities and violates a 1994 Executive Order requiring federal agencies to prioritize environmental justice by identifying and addressing projects that have significant human health or environmental effects on minority populations.
Attorney Christopher Moriarty assisted in advancing The Rutherford Institute’s legal arguments in U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Assn.
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated.
Source: https://bit.ly/2urXcFb
|