House Restricts ‘Public Trust’ Tenet Legislation Would Curtail Use Of Doctrine In Water, Land Cases

Legislation that would sharply restrict the “public trust doctrine” as a legal argument in cases involving Idaho water or land use passed the House Thursday on a 56-11 vote.

Supporters said it would keep environmental groups or others from challenging a major water rights proceeding involving the Snake River. But opponents said the Idaho Supreme Court has already ruled that the doctrine doesn’t apply to that issue.

“This legislation appears to tilt the scale in the direction of indiscriminate development of our water resources,” said Rep. Ken Robison, R-Boise.

The public trust doctrine holds that the public has an interest in the state’s resources. The state Land Board cited the doctrine in denying a developer’s plan to construct the proposed Auger Falls dam on the Snake River near Twin Falls, which had widespread public opposition.

Rep. Golden Linford, R-Rexburg, said, “The potential is there that someone or some group could use this as a weapon to stop a water right, to stop logging, to stop grazing.”

The doctrine is among the arguments cited by the Selkirk-Priest Basin Association when it sued to challenge a timber sale near Priest Lake.

Timber industry lobbyist Joe Hinson said this bill and another he’s sponsored should, together, eliminate those arguments. “It heads a lot of it off,” Hinson said. “But I don’t discount the creativity of the other side’s legal talent. They’ll look for some other avenues, I’m sure.”

Hinson’s other bill would exempt state endowment land from an obscure state law that says Idaho’s major lakes are designated for public recreation. That bill already has passed the Senate, and is pending in a House committee.

, DataTimes