Every now and then, we post an update from the rails-to-trails arena. But we’ve never provided a “big picture” look at the issue. Well, law.com has saved us the effort. In “Rails-to-Trails Program Costly to Taxpayers,” Jenna Greene provides an overview of how a law the Congressional Budget Office said “wouldn’t cost the federal government a thing,” ended up costing the taxpayers $49 million in the last year alone. Worth reading.
For our latest foray into this area, see our amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to review a Tenth Circuit case about the meaning of the term railroad “right of way” in an 1875 federal statute. We argue that the case, if left unreviewed by the Court, is an effort to undercut rails-to-trails takings cases.