09/05/09 - The Nature Conservancy recently filed a request to submit an amicus brief in the Champlin’s Marina expansion case currently before the state Supreme Court.

Such a brief is an offer to volunteer information, unsolicited by either side, in a matter before the court.

The TNC writes that it has invested “millions of dollars to protect the island’s diverse array of habitats. Block Island has been a priority for the conservancy for many years.”

The brief asks that the court take into consideration both the environment and the public trust doctrine as it deliberates the marina expansion question.

“As the court reviews the briefs and arguments presented by the various parties in this dispute, the conservancy asks it to consider the impact that any decision will have on the Great Salt Pond and its important public trust resources and to fashion a remedy that is protective of these resources … to maintain these unique resources for the use and benefit of the citizens of today and tomorrow.”

Scott Comings of the Block Island TNC office says the conservancy simply felt “compelled to remind the court” that there was more at stake than procedural legal issues.

The brief filed with the court reads, “it is the conservancy’s hope that the proposed brief, and its reaffirmation of the inviolable public trust doctrine, may assist the court by highlighting the natural resources at issue in this human dispute, and underscoring the reality that the court’s decision not only will establish the law of the case, but will also hopefully to fashion a remedy that is protective of the natural resources impacted by that law.”

The Supreme Court has not decided whether it will allow the brief from the TNC. Oral arguments are set for September 29.