Does the Service use the power of condemnation (eminent domain) to acquire property?
It is the Service’s long standing policy to acquire land from willing sellers. Eminent domain is rarely used by the Service. Service policy is to acquire land through condemnation only in order to: determine the legal owner (clear title); settle a difference of opinion of value (when the owner is agreeable to court action); or prevent uses which would cause irreparable damage to the resources that the unit (refuge, etc.) was established to protect. The Service, like many other federal agencies, has the power of eminent domain. This power is granted in the Constitution and General Condemnation Act of 1888 and can be used to acquire lands and interests in lands for the public good.
Related Questions
- Would the National Park Service invoke the power of eminent domain to forcibly acquire land for the purpose of creating a National Park unit?
- Why has Columbia asked the Empire State Development Corporation to use its eminent domain power to acquire property on this site?
- Why does the agency have the power of eminent domain (condemnation of property)?
