National Ass'n of Property Owners v. US, Civ. No. 5-79-95
| Decision Date | 24 July 1980 |
| Docket Number | 5-79-178 and Civ. 5-80-25.,Civ. No. 5-79-95 |
| Citation | 499 F. Supp. 1223 |
| Parties | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROPERTY OWNERS; National Park Inholders Association; Ely-Winton Boundary Waters Conservation Alliance; Local 4757 United Steel Workers of America; Lac La Croix Indian Band; Greater Virginia Area Chamber of Commerce; Crane Lake Commercial Club; Minnesota Arrowhead Association; Ely Chamber of Commerce; Carol M. Fisher; Border Lakes Association; Crane Lake Voyageur Snowmobile Club, Inc.; Crane Lake Sportsmen's Club; Ash River Namakan Lake Association; Charlotte Ekroot, d/b/a Windigo Lodge; Robert J. Handberg, d/b/a Campbell's Cabins and Trading Post; Plaintiffs, and State of Minnesota, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. UNITED STATES of America; Bob Bergland, Secretary of Agriculture, Individually and in his official capacity; Defendants, and Sierra Club; Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness; League of Women Voters of Minnesota; Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.; Minnesota Rovers; Wilderness Inquiry II; Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens Association; Minneapolis Chapter, National Audubon Society; St. Paul Chapter, National Audubon Society; Duluth Chapter, National Audubon Society; Minnesota Ornithologists' Union; The Wilderness Society; Defendant-Intervenors. STATE OF MINNESOTA by Joseph N. Alexander, its Commissioner of Natural Resources, Plaintiff, and Carl Brown, d/b/a Walleye Bait & Tackle Co.; Viking Cruises, Inc.; Concerned Citizens of Northeastern Minnesota; Boundary Waters Landowners Association, a Minnesota non-profit corporation; Koochiching County; City of South International Falls; Village of Ranier; International Falls Chamber of Commerce; Minnesota United Snowmobilers Association, Inc.; City of International Falls; Plaintiff-Intervenors, v. Robert BERGLAND, Individually and as Secretary of Agriculture of the United States; Defendant, and Sierra Club; Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness; Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.; The League of Women Voters of Minnesota, Inc.; Minnesota Rovers; Wilderness Inquiry II; Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens Association; Minneapolis Chapter, National Audubon Society; St. Paul Chapter, National Audubon Society; Duluth Chapter, National Audubon Society; Minnesota Ornithologists' Union; The Wilderness Society; Defendant-Intervenors. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROPERTY OWNERS; Ely-Winton Boundary Waters Conservation Alliance; Range Actioneers, Inc.; Crane Lake Sportsmen's Club; City of Winton; Plaintiffs, v. Bob BERGLAND, Individually and in his official capacity as Secretary of Agriculture; R. Max Peterson, individually and in his official capacity as Chief of the United States Forest Service; Defendants, and Sierra Club; Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness; League of Women Voters of Minnesota; Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.; Minnesota Rovers; Wilderness Inquiry II; Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens Association; Minneapolis Chapter, National Audubon Society; St. Paul Chapter, National Audubon Society; Duluth Chapter, National Audubon Society; Minnesota Ornithologists' Union; The Wilderness Society; Defendant-Intervenors. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Dayton, Herman, Graham & Getts by Charles K. Dayton and James A. Payne, Minneapolis, Minn., for Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness; League of Women Voters of Minnesota; Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.; Minnesota Rovers; Wilderness Inquiry II; Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens Ass'n; Minneapolis Chapter, National Audubon Society; St. Paul Chapter, National Audubon Society; Duluth Chapter, National Audubon Society; Minnesota Ornithologists' Union and The Wilderness Soc.
Wayne H. Olson, Sp. Counsel, Minneapolis, Minn., and Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen. by Philip J. Olfelt, Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Minn., for State of Minnesota.
Joseph Alexander, Minneapolis, Minn., Johnson, Essling, Williams Essling & Daly, Ltd. by William W. Essling and David E. Essling, St. Paul, Minn., for Carl Brown, d/b/a Walleye Bait & Tackle Co.; Viking Cruises, Inc.; Concerned Citizens of Northeastern Minnesota; Boundary Waters Landowners Ass'n; Koochiching County; City of South International Falls; Village of Ranier; International Falls Chamber of Commerce and City of International Falls.
O'Connor & Hannan by Frank J. Walz and Thomas R. Sheran, Minneapolis, Minn., for United Snowmobilers Ass'n, Inc. Ben A. Wallis, Jr., San Antonio, Tex., and Keith Brownell, Duluth, Minn., for National Ass'n of Property Owners; National Park Inholders Ass'n; Ely-Winton Boundary Waters Conservation Alliance; Local 4757, United Steelworkers of America; Lac La Croix Indian Bank; Greater Virginia Area Chamber of Commerce; Crane Lake Commercial Club; Minnesota Arrowhead Ass'n; Ely Chamber of Commerce; Carol M. Fisher; Border Lakes Ass'n; Crane Lake Voyageur Snowmobile Club, Inc.; Crane Lake Sportsmen's Club; Ash River Namakan Lake Ass'n; Charlotte Ekroot, d/b/a Windigo Lodge; Robert J. Handberg, d/b/a Campbell's Cabins and Trading Post; Range Actioneers, Inc. and City of Winton.
Thomas K. Berg, U.S. Atty. by Thorwald H. Anderson, Jr., and Francis X. Hermann, Asst. U. S. Attys., Minneapolis, Minn., and James T. Draude, Land & Natural Resources Div., Dept. of Justice, and James P. Perry, Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and James Pfeil, Dept. of Agriculture, Milwaukee, Wis., for U. S., Bob Bergland and R. Max Peterson.
Faegre & Benson by Brian B. O'Neill, F. Reid Carron, Charles E. Bohlen, Jr., James G. Ray, Charles S. Ferrell, James E. Nicholson, Rebecca L. Rom and Betsy Taylor, Stephen J. Snyder and Richard N. Flint, Minneapolis, Minn., and David P. Pearson, St. Paul, Minn., and Marcia Gelpe, Minneapolis, Minn., for Sierra Club.
Before the Court are parties' motions and cross motions for summary judgment in three separate lawsuits challenging Congress' most recent legislation concerning the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
In National Ass'n of Property Owners v. United States, Civil 5-79-95 (D.Minn.1979), plaintiffs challenge certain provisions of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act (BWCAW Act), Pub.L. No. 95-495, 92 Stat. 1649 (October 21, 1978). This particular action raises five key issues:
1. Did Congress unlawfully delegate authority to the Secretary of Agriculture to draw the boundaries of the new Wilderness Area?
2. Does the Act, by limiting motorboat and snowmobile use in the Wilderness, discriminate, unconstitutionally, against the class of all handicapped persons and the class of all persons less physically fit?
3. Do §§ 4, by limiting motorboat and snowmobile use in the Wilderness, and 5, containing provisions for the purchase of properties around the BWCAW, of the BWCAW Act infringe plaintiffs' Ninth and Fifth Amendment rights?
4. Does the BWCAW Act conflict with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842?
5. Does alleged selective enforcement of the Act by the United States Forest Service give rise to any rightful claims by these plaintiffs?
In Minnesota v. Bergland, Civil 5-79-178 (D.Minn.1979), the state and plaintiff-intervenors challenge the constitutionality of the BWCAW Act; their claim is essentially that the federal government has power to regulate only those lands and waters that it owns. Plaintiffs assert that certain sections of the Act, to the extent that they regulate lands and waters not owned by the federal government, violate the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The sole issue raised in this lawsuit concerns whether Congress is constitutionally empowered to regulate those surface waters and lands within the Wilderness Area not owned by the federal government.
In National Ass'n of Property Owners v. Bergland, Civil 5-80-25 (D.Minn.1980), plaintiffs seek to enjoin the Secretary of Agriculture and the United States Forest Service from enforcing the 1978 Act. Plaintiffs allege that implementation of the legislation constitutes a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, within the meaning of § 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act, (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C) (1976), necessitating the filing of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The sole question raised in this cause concerns whether NEPA, in fact, requires these federal defendants to file an EIS prior to enforcing the BWCAW Act.
All issues have been extensively briefed and the Court has entertained counsel's oral presentations at two full days of hearings. Now, after careful review of all the files, all memoranda and counsel's oral argument, the Court is prepared to rule.
The BWCAW rests along the Minnesota-Canada border for 110 miles. The Wilderness encompasses 1,075,000 acres.1 East of the Rockies, it is the largest unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System; it is the second largest unit in the entire system. The BWCAW is the only lakeland canoe area in the entire nation. The area is made up of over 1,000 lakes, joined together by streams and portages. This area was the only means of travel for the legendary fur traders who navigated water routes pioneered by the Sioux and Chippewa.2
Notwithstanding the fact that extensive logging has occurred in the Wilderness Area, it still offers sanctuary to over 540,000 acres of virgin forests. This Wilderness is home to hundreds of species of unusual birds, plants and animals settled in scores of ecological communities. The area harbors such wildlife as the bald eagle, osprey, otter, beaver, moose, deer, snowshoe hare, porcupine, eastern timber wolf, pine marten, fisher and lynx. The boundary waters support sturgeon, pickerel, suckers and lake trout. Nearly every lake is populated by loons.
The dark forest is the keynote to the Wilderness, filled with jackpine...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Utah Shared Access Alliance v. Carpenter
...conserve the environment.") (citing Douglas County v. Babbitt, 48 F.3d 1495, 1505 (9th Cir.1995)); Nat'l Assoc. of Property Owners v. United States, 499 F.Supp. 1223, 1265 (D.Minn.1980) ("In essence, plaintiffs' claim is that the Department of Agriculture must prepare an EIS in order to lea......
-
Olmsted Citizens for a Better Community v. United States
...the visual landscape, noting that natural vegetation will be added to minimize the changes.8 See National Ass'n of Property Owners v. United States, 499 F.Supp. 1223, 1226 n. 28 (D.Minn.1980), aff'd 660 F.2d 1240, cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1007, 102 S.Ct. 1645, 71 L.Ed.2d 876 Plaintiffs do cla......
-
Steinhauser v. City of St. Paul
...(9th Cir.1986), and never been used as a solid basis for any decision from the Supreme Court, see Nat'l Assoc. of Property Owners v. United States, 499 F.Supp. 1223, 1246 (D.Minn.1980). Plaintiffs did not respond to this argument and no evidence suggests that Plaintiffs have made a viable N......
-
Douglas County v. Babbitt
...Id. at 680. As another court put it, an EIS is not required "in order to leave nature alone." National Ass'n of Property Owners v. U.S., 499 F.Supp. 1223, 1265 (D.Minn.1980), aff'd, State of Minnesota v. Block, 660 F.2d 1240 (8th The district court ruled against the defendants on this issue......