I need some help with the following homework question 25-3 The US National Park
ID: 365964 • Letter: I
Question
I need some help with the following homework question
25-3
The US National Park Service (NPS) manages the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona under a management plan that is subject to periodic reviews. In 2006, after nine years of background work and of completion of comprehensive environmental impact statement, the NPS issues a new management plan for the park. The plan allowed of continued use of rafts on the Colorado river, which runs through the Grand Canyon. The number of rafts was limited however. Several environmental groups criticized the plan because they felt that it still allowed too many rafts on the river. The groups ask the federal court to overturn the plan, claiming that it violated the wilderness status of the national park. When can a federal court overturn a determination by an agency such as NPS? Explain.
Explanation / Answer
There are certain limited circumstances when a federal court overturns a determination by any agency like NPS. It is possible only if it is clearly established that NPS acted in arbitrary and impulsive manner when plan was adopted. An agency like NPS is not supposed to act in an arbitrary manner. Hence, if the agency acts in that manner and it is proved in the court, the court will have grounds to intervene in the plan and even overturn the determination. Otherwise, federal court can defer the case owing to the expertise of the agency.
In this case, the federal court established that plan was comprehensive and NPS offered credible reasoning to believe that the rafts on the river didn’t damage the wilderness status of the National Park unlike what was claimed by those groups. Hence, it was established in the court that NPS acted within its mandate and thus the federal court chose not to intervene in its decision/determination.