Mealey's (June 15, 2020, 12:23 PM EDT) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 reversed and remanded a ruling by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and held that because the U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision to assign responsibility for the Appalachian Trail to the National Park Service (NPS) did not transform the land over which the trail passes into land within the National Park system, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) had the authority to issue a permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which will carry hydraulically fractured gas across park lands (Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1587, U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1584, U.S. Sup. [consolidated])....