Private property and environmental regulatory takings: a forward look into rights and remedies, as illustrated by an excursion into the Wild Rivers Act of Kentucky

The Kentucky Water Management Plan provides the framework for a statewide effort to prevent irreparable harm to state waters through monitoring surface waters and aggressive management of wild rivers. The State Supreme Court decided in Commonwealth v. Stearns Coal and Lumber Co. to give state policy precedence over private property. The author reviews case law at the state and federal level on the property rights issue and concludes that the Court is reluctant to break any new ground or to limit the states' freedom to legislate in the area of land use. Kentucky is among the states taking a creative approach to land use legislation, while other states continue with more traditional attitudes.