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Protect the Adirondacks! Inc. v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

New York Court of Appeals
170 N.E.3d 424 (2021)

Written by Angela Patrick, JD

Facts

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (department) (defendant) had plans to create 27 miles of snowmobile trails in an area called the forest preserve. The forest preserve spanned over 1.9 million acres in parts of both the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains. The trail-development plans required the destruction of some trees in the preserve. Protect the Adirondacks! Inc., an environmental group (plaintiff), filed a declaratory-judgment action against the department in New York state court, asking the court to declare that the snowmobile-trail plans violated the New York Constitution. The trial court dismissed the complaint. The appellate division reversed the dismissal and ruled that the plans violated the state’s constitution. The department appealed to the state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.

Rule of Law

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Issue

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Holding and Reasoning (Rivera, J.)

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Dissent (Stein, J.)

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