Russel Sadler, writing on BlueOregon, describes a “takings” lawsuit:<\/p>\n
In the Spring of 1998, a logging company named Coast Range Conifers acquired 40 acres of timber known as the Beaver Tract. Subsequently, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee observed two bald eagles in the area and a nest on a 31-acre site the company wanted to log. The bald eagle is listed as a “threatened species”\u009d under the Endangered Species Act. Coast Range Conifers offered a logging plan that prohibited logging within 400 feet of the nest, leaving 50 percent of the neighboring trees, and received a logging permit from the Oregon Department of Forestry. The company logged the 31 acres.<\/p>\n
Following the bald eagle nesting season, the company observed the nest was no longer occupied and offered a revised logging plan for the remaining nine acres of the Beaver Tract with larger buffer strips around the nest. The State Forester denied the permit. Coast Range Conifers filed suit complaining the government had taken their property by regulation and demanding compensation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Assuming that market forces are still functioning, I don’t see what CRC has to complain about.<\/p>\n
After all, it’s not exactly a secret that logging in Oregon can be limited by the discovery of endangered species – the spotted owl lives here, for example. Presumably, the additional risk that land-buyers face in Oregon is automatically factored into land prices by the marketplace, and resulted in CRC buying Beaver Tract for a cheaper price than they would have paid if there were no Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n
They bought Beaver Tract knowing full well that there was a risk – and the existence of that risk means that they paid less for the land than they would have if there was no risk. Since the marketplace already gave them a discount to compensate for their risk, how on Earth has the government “taken” the value of the land away from them?<\/p>\n
(By the way, CRC lost their lawsuit – on legal grounds, not on the economic grounds I’m discussing here.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russel Sadler, writing on BlueOregon, describes a “takings” lawsuit: In the Spring of 1998, a logging company named Coast Range Conifers acquired 40 acres of timber known as the Beaver Tract. Subsequently, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee observed … Continue reading