ELR Citation: ELR 20234
No(s). 86-7346 (9th Cir. Oct 6, 1987)

The court holds that the Interstate Commerce Commission permissibly interpreted §208 of the National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983 as conditioning rail-to-trail conversions on the negotiation of voluntary agreements between abandoning railroads and prospective interim trail users. The statutory language is ambiguous as to whether the Commission must issue an interim trail use order whenever a qualified entity, such as a state agency, offers to manage the land as a recreational trail, and the legislative history does not clarify the ambiguity. To require a voluntary agreement does not render §208 superfluous, because the chief purpose of the provision is to prevent rights-of-way from reverting upon abandonment. Moreover, by requiring an interim trail user to assume full legal and financial responsibility for the right-of-way, the provision provides incentives for railroads to allow trail use rather than opting merely for abandonment. That the statute requires that all agreements for interim trail use to contain certain provisions is not inconsistent with the necessity that the agreement be "voluntary," because building such conditions into the agreements simply makes it more likely that the railroads will consent to the interim use. In addition, it does not appear that Congress intended that interim trail use be carried out through the exercise of condemnation power, in which case the interim use would clearly have been mandatory.

Counsel for Petitioner
Daniel William Wycoff, David M. Horn, Ass't Attorneys General
Temple of Justice, Olympia WA 98504
(206) 753-2550

Counsel for Respondents
Charles F. Rule, Acting Ass't Attorney General; Catherine G. O'Sullivan, Donald S. Clark
Antitrust Division
Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 633-2000

Counsel for Intervenor
John B. Norton
Ass'n of American Railroads
50 F. St. NW, Washington DC 20001
(202) 639-2500

Before Ferguson and Canby Jr., JJ.