Environmental activists argued the federal law establishing the canyon as a National Scenic Area meant local zoning laws could be brought to the table for regulating railroads.
(CN) — The Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that the railroad in the Columbia River Gorge is not subject to local zoning rules in Clark County, Washington state.
The decision was a blow to environmental activists who sought to block a track expansion. Clark County contended that county codes required BNSF Railway Company to obtain a permit for the project. BNSF sued, claiming federal law preempts local zoning ordinances.
A federal judge agreed, prompting an appeal from groups including the Columbia River Gorge Commission and Friends of the Columbia River Gorge. They argued the Gorge Act passed by Congress in 1986 establishing the canyon as a National Scenic Area qualified as an environmental statute that could not be automatically preempted by the federal authority over railroads.
U.S. Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, a George W. Bush appointee, disagreed. Writing for the majority, Bybee found the Gorge Act area applied only to that specific locality and was not a nationwide environmental statute, like the Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act. Further, the implementation of the Gorge Act does not require local laws and rules to be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“The Gorge Act plainly does not authorize the EPA to create any national environmental standards for, say, land management; it simply provides a framework for Oregon and Washington to cooperatively manage a shared area of land,” Bybee wrote in the 25-page ruling. “Appellants point to no provision of the Gorge Act that… might similarly transform a local county ordinance into a regulation with the force and effect of federal law.”
Friends of Columbia Gorge spokesperson Burt Edwards said the groups are evaluating their next move.
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August 25, 2021 at 05:40AM
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Counties have no say on railroad expansion in Columbia River Gorge - Courthouse News Service
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