SGT Rock
03-26-2014, 22:32
http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/smokies-hiking-fee-lawsuit-proceeds/article_e95ec242-a33e-51ea-94ac-06fa9381885b.html
By Joel Davis | [email protected]
More than a year after Great Smoky Mountains National Park implemented a new backcountry reservation and permitting process, a federal judge has thrown out part of a lawsuit challenging the reservation system and a $4 per-person fee.
Eastern District of Kentucky Senior Judge Joseph Hood on Monday dismissed the Southern Forest Watch organization’s challenge to the imposition of an online reservation system. However, he is allowing the organization’s challenge to the camping fee to proceed.
Hood declared that Southern Forest Watch did not have the standing to challenge the reservation system. “Plaintiffs may prefer the old reservation system to the online reservation system, but plaintiffs’ desire for the old voluntary reservation system does not allege an injury in fact that creates a case or controversy, thereby giving this court jurisdiction,” he wrote.
Judge allows fee challenge
When it comes to the fee, however, the plaintiffs can challenge the decision under the federal Administrative Procedure Act. “The superintendent’s decision to implement a backpacker registration fee and decision to lease part of the park does not fall within the limited exception for sovereign immunity.”
Hood also denied the organization’s motion for discovery. He wrote: “Plaintiffs simply have not put forth the evidence required for the court to allow discovery beyond the administrative record. Plaintiffs’ bald assertions and questions about the possibility of bad faith on the part of the NPS is simply not enough for the court to allow discovery beyond the administrative record.”
The changes took effect on Feb. 13, 2013, when the park began charging $4 per person, per night for use of the park’s backcountry campsites and shelters.
Hood is also allowing Southern Forest Watch’s legal challenge to an unrelated and alleged decision to lease part of the park to proceed. “Plaintiffs also seek a declaratory judgment based on, what they describe as, defendants’ decision to grant licenses and rights ‘to private entities and political elites on such terms to interfere with the free access’ to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” he wrote. “... Plaintiffs have met the standing requirements to challenge this decision. Plaintiffs, by alleging that they wish to use this portion of the park for hiking, have alleged a concrete injury.”
GSMNP officials had no comment on the ruling.
In early 2013, Southern Forest Watch filed the lawsuit against the U.S. secretary of the interior, National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, and GSMNP Superintendent Dale A. Ditmanson in the U.S. District Court in Knoxville.
By Joel Davis | [email protected]
More than a year after Great Smoky Mountains National Park implemented a new backcountry reservation and permitting process, a federal judge has thrown out part of a lawsuit challenging the reservation system and a $4 per-person fee.
Eastern District of Kentucky Senior Judge Joseph Hood on Monday dismissed the Southern Forest Watch organization’s challenge to the imposition of an online reservation system. However, he is allowing the organization’s challenge to the camping fee to proceed.
Hood declared that Southern Forest Watch did not have the standing to challenge the reservation system. “Plaintiffs may prefer the old reservation system to the online reservation system, but plaintiffs’ desire for the old voluntary reservation system does not allege an injury in fact that creates a case or controversy, thereby giving this court jurisdiction,” he wrote.
Judge allows fee challenge
When it comes to the fee, however, the plaintiffs can challenge the decision under the federal Administrative Procedure Act. “The superintendent’s decision to implement a backpacker registration fee and decision to lease part of the park does not fall within the limited exception for sovereign immunity.”
Hood also denied the organization’s motion for discovery. He wrote: “Plaintiffs simply have not put forth the evidence required for the court to allow discovery beyond the administrative record. Plaintiffs’ bald assertions and questions about the possibility of bad faith on the part of the NPS is simply not enough for the court to allow discovery beyond the administrative record.”
The changes took effect on Feb. 13, 2013, when the park began charging $4 per person, per night for use of the park’s backcountry campsites and shelters.
Hood is also allowing Southern Forest Watch’s legal challenge to an unrelated and alleged decision to lease part of the park to proceed. “Plaintiffs also seek a declaratory judgment based on, what they describe as, defendants’ decision to grant licenses and rights ‘to private entities and political elites on such terms to interfere with the free access’ to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” he wrote. “... Plaintiffs have met the standing requirements to challenge this decision. Plaintiffs, by alleging that they wish to use this portion of the park for hiking, have alleged a concrete injury.”
GSMNP officials had no comment on the ruling.
In early 2013, Southern Forest Watch filed the lawsuit against the U.S. secretary of the interior, National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, and GSMNP Superintendent Dale A. Ditmanson in the U.S. District Court in Knoxville.