On February 24, 2020, the Supreme Court heard the oral arguments
in the case of U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River
Preservation Association, et al.
On December 13, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit held that the Forest Service was not authorized by the
Mineral Leasing Act to grant a pipeline right-of-way under the
Appalachian Trail to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline involving a small
stretch of the Appalachian Scenic Trail.
The consequence of the Fourth Circuit's holding is that the
2,180+ mile Appalachian Trail is subject to the permitting
authority of the National Park Service, located in the Department
of the Interior, and not the U.S. Forest Service, located in the
Department of Agriculture. Since most of the pipeline is apparently
being constructed on non-federal land, not having appropriate
federal authorization for that segment could doom the project since
the National Park Service is not authorized to grant rights of way.
For
