Forestry and Property Rights Legal Update
You’ve probably heard about the forest roads lawsuit, Decker v. NEDC, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in early December. At stake is whether logging roads and ditches need federal stormwater permits. Since the 1970s, EPA has agreed they do not with its “Silvicultural Rule.” When environmentalists sued in Oregon, a federal court ruled that EPA was incorrect. Last year, Congress blocked EPA from developing the new permit while the case was on appeal.
The case before the Supreme Court looked strong. EPA, however, complicated things by issuing a new rule intended to replace the faulty Silvicultural Rule on the eve of the case being heard. While the new rule helps the forestry community by generally not requiring permits for logging roads and ditches, the Supreme Court seemed concerned about this new development. The Supreme Court should rule by July. For now, it has asked the parties for further information about EPA’s new rule. The only real solution here is congressional action, so talk to your U.S. representative and senators about this issue.
Two important property rights cases have not been in the news quite as much. One case, Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, questions bargaining practices that governments use for land-related permits. There, the government agreed to issue a permit to fill wetlands if the landowner paid to improve government culverts miles away. The landowner refused and sued when the government denied the permit. The Florida Supreme Court said the landowner could only challenge the unreasonable permit demand after giving in to it.
The outcome of Koontz will be important to all landowners—even average homeowners and agricultural landowners. The growth in government at all levels means that every landowner in the country is now subject to a complex permitting regime. Imagine a local government that requires you to buy $25,000 in new library books in order to get a permit to build a new deck. Or a state agency that requires a timberlands owner in the Panhandle to build a nature walk in South Florida to get a permit to build a logging road. The Supreme Court is being asked to decide how far these outrageous requests can go. I was fortunate to be involved in this case. I watched the oral arguments in Washington, D.C. in January and am cautiously optimistic that the Justices will support the landowner.
The other recent property rights case before the Supreme Court has already been decided—and it was a big win for landowners and forestry. In Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a landowner could be compensated where the federal government’s temporary flooding of the property destroyed millions of dollars of standing timber.
From the beginning of the Republic, governments have tried to get out of paying compensation for property they take by arguing it was for the public good. The Supreme Court once again rejected this argument. The Constitution, it said, requires the government to pay landowners for damages to property, no matter whether the government had a good reason for its actions or not.
We must be our own advocates for property rights and the sound environmental practices used in forestry. As these cases illustrate, we must remain diligent in working to protect our property rights and livelihoods. The next time you talk to a landowner, tell them about these recent developments. Remind them about the legal struggles that our industry faced and is still facing out West because our laws prioritize the Northern Spotted Owl above people. It could happen here if we are not mindful.
Jacob T. Cremer is an attorney at Bricklemyer Smolker, P.A., in Tampa. His practice focuses on property rights, environmental, and land use law. He grew up in a family that has been involved in forestry in Florida for many generations. Follow the developments on these cases and others at his blog, The Florida Land Environment.
