Groups File Lawsuit To Stop National Park Service From Leasing 150 Acres Of Virgin Islands National Park To A Private Resort Developer
Lawsuit says the National Park Service is moving to lease all 150 acres of the Virgin Islands National Park Caneel Bay peninsula, a plan its own study rejected, while dropping guarantees of public beach access, a cap on resort size and protection of historic sites.
Today, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks and Ecological Collective, USVI, Inc., filed a federal lawsuit to stop the National Park Service (NPS) from leasing all of Caneel Bay, a 150-acre peninsula inside Virgin Islands National Park on St. John, to a private resort developer.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to block any lease for lodging at Caneel Bay, and a preliminary injunction stopping NPS from evaluating bids or signing a lease.
In 2023, after an environmental assessment and final plan, NPS selected the alternative that limited redevelopment of Caneel Bay. It set aside 67 acres for eco-resort accommodations of no more than 166 rooms. It kept the area’s key historic sites under NPS control, guaranteed public overland access to the beaches and park land and made local business a priority. The same plan evaluated an alternative that would open all 150 acres to a developer and rejected that option, determining it would fail to protect the site’s resources or give visitors a national park experience.
But NPS reversed course after a July 2025 executive order directing agencies to use public lands to drive economic growth. On May 7, 2026, with no public notice or new environmental analysis or plan, it disregarded the final plan alternative to limit development to the 67-acres and invited developers to bid on a 60-year lease of the entire peninsula. The new offer drops all four protections from the 2023 plan.
In the suit, the groups state NPS’ new plan would:
- Illegally use a lease in place of the required and more closely supervised concession agreement.
- Remove any cap on the number of resort rooms
- Hand historic and archaeological sites to a private developer
- Strain St. John’s limited water, power and waste systems and bring more traffic
- End the guarantee that the public can reach Caneel Bay’s beaches and park land
- End any priority of encouraging local jobs
The groups are seeking a preliminary injunction and are asking the court to throw out the May 2026 Request for Proposals, bar the Park Service from leasing Caneel Bay for lodging under a lease agreement, and immediately halt the evaluation of proposals or signing of any lease while the case proceeds.
“The National Park Service drew a line to protect Caneel Bay, then erased it under pressure from Washington,” said Emily Thompson, Executive Director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. “National parks belong to all Americans, not the highest bidder. This lease is illegal, and we will continue to work to stop it.”
“The National Park Service has ignored the people of St. John and the Virgin Islands with their latest move to develop Caneel Bay,” said David DiGiacomo, President of Ecological Collective, USVI, Inc. “The Caneel Bay property is one of the most extraordinary sites in the world with 7 beautiful beaches, historic sites and ruins and plant and animal life in need of protection. We are extremely grateful for the support of the Coalition joining us in our efforts to ensure that the laws are followed. The people of the Virgin Islands and people throughout the nation must have a say in how our public lands are developed.”
The groups are being represented by retired judge Thomas G. Moukawsher of the Law Office of Thomas G. Moukawsher. You can see the full complaint here: https://protectnps.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Complaint.pdf
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Contact: Doug Gordon | do**@***************es.com
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