Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM & ORDER GARAUFIS, District Judge. Before the court are all parties’ objections to the recommendation of The Honorable Robert M. Levy, United Stated Magistrate Judge, that the court dismiss this consolidated case. For the reasons set forth in this Memorandum and Order, this court accepts and adopts those recommendations in part, rejects those recommendations in part, and dismisses this consolidated case in its entirety. I.. Factual Background Because Defendants move to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), the court must accept all factual allegations in Plaintiffs pleadings and must draw inferences from those allegations in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs. U.S. v. The Baylor Univ. Med. Ctr., 469 F.3d 263, 267 (2d Cir.2006) (Rule 12(b)(6)); McGinty v. State, 193 F.3d 64, 68 (2d Cir.1999) (Rule 12(b)(1)). A. The Parties 1. Plaintiffs Each Plaintiff owns or rents real estate in Brooklyn, New York located on land intended for use in the Atlantic Yards Arena and Development Project, which is described below. 2. The State Defendants Defendant New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a Empire State Development Corporation (“ESDC”) is an agency of New York State that was, at all relevant times, controlled by Defendant George E. Pataki, the Governor of New York State from 1995 until December 2006, and Defendant Charles A. Gargano, the Chief Executive Officer of the ESDC during that period. These Defendants are collectively referred to as the “State Defendants.” 3. The FCRC Defendants Defendant Forest City Ratner Companies (“FCRC”) is a New York corporation with a principal place of business in New York. Defendant Bruce C. Ratner is the President and Chief Executive Officer of FCRC. Defendant James P. Stuckey is an Executive Vice President of FCRC and the President of FCRC’s Atlantic Yards Development Group. Defendant Forest City Enterprises (“FCE”) is a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business in Ohio. Defendant Ratner Group, Inc. is a New York corporation with a principal place of business in New York. Defendants BR FCRC, LLC; Brooklyn Arena, LLC; Atlantic Yards Development Co. LLC; BR Land, LLC; and FCR Land, LLC are New York limited-liability companies with principal places of business in New York. These Defendants are collectively referred to as the “FCRC Defendants.” 4.The City Defendants Defendant Michael Bloomberg has been the Mayor of Defendant New York City from 2002 to the present. Defendant Daniel L. Doctoroff has been a Deputy Mayor of New York City from 2002 to the present. Defendant New York City Economic Development Corporation (“EDC”) is a New York non-profit corporation with a principal place of business in New York. Defendant Andrew M. Alper was President of the EDC for a portion of the period in which Plaintiffs’ claims arose. Defendant Joshua Sirefman was Acting President of the EDC for a portion of the period in which Plaintiffs’ claims arose. These Defendants are collectively referred to as the “City Defendants.” B. The Atlantic Yards Arena and Development Project FCRC intends to build the Atlantic Yards Arena and Development Project (the “Project”) on twenty-two acres of land in Brooklyn, New York bounded generally on the north by Atlantic Avenue, the south by Dean Street, the east by Vanderbilt Avenue, and the west by Fourth Avenue (the “Project Area”). The Project is planned to consist of sixteen towers and 8.6 million square feet of floor space, including a sports arena, 6,860 housing units, approximately 600,000 square feet of office space, and a hotel. The Project Area encompasses both land containing property owned and rented by Plaintiffs (the “Takings Area”) and land in which Plaintiffs have no interest, which consists primarily of the Vanderbilt Rail Yard site owned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (“MTA”) (the “Non-Takings Area”). The Vanderbilt Rail Yard is part of the Atlantic Terminal Urban Renewal Area (“ATU-RA”), which New York City has designated as blighted ten times, first in 1968 and most recently in 2004. In all, approximately sixty-three percent of the Project Area is blighted. FCRC conceived of the Project in or before the summer of 2002 and announced it publicly on December 11, 2003. In the interim, it purchased the New Jersey Nets basketball franchise, which it intends to move into the sports arena that is part of the Project, and solicited and received the support of Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloom-berg, and Deputy Mayor Doctoroff. In December 2003, Mayor Bloomberg announced that FCRC would develop the Project with the ESDC. On February 18, 2005, Defendants memorialized their plans for the Project in two memoranda of understanding. Prior to September 2003, the MTA stated more than once that it had sold to FCRC the right to develop the Vanderbilt Rail Yard. In September 2003, the MTA retracted those statements. On February 24, 2005, the MTA entered an agreement with FCRC indicating that the MTA had not sold to FCRC the right to develop the Vanderbilt Rail Yard. On May 25, 2005, the MTA issued a request for proposals (“RFP”) to purchase the right to develop the Vanderbilt Rail Yard. The RFP provided that proposals must include twenty-year profit-and-loss projections. Only two entities submitted proposals. The first, FCRC, offered to pay $50 million and did not submit a twenty-year profit-and-loss projection. The second, the Extell Development Company (“Extell”), offered to pay $150 million and submitted the required profit-and-loss projection. Extell’s proposal, unlike FCRC’s, did not require the taking of any private property. On July 27, 2005, the MTA granted FCRC the exclusive right to negotiate, during a forty-five-day period, for the right to develop the Vanderbilt Rail Yard. On September 14, 2005, the MTA announced that it would sell that development right to FCRC for $100 million. C. New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law Article Two of New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (“EDPL”) sets forth procedures for determining the need for and location of public projects prior to the condemnation of private property. Defendants have availed themselves of those procedures, as described below. Article Four of the EDPL sets forth the procedures governing post-condemnation acquisition of private property for public projects. Defendants have not yet availed themselves of those procedures. 1. Article Two New York law requires a condemnor to conduct a pre-acquisition public hearing “in order to inform the public [of the proposed public project] and to review the public use to be served by a proposed public project.” EDPL § 201. At the Section 201 hearing, the condemnor must announce the purpose and location of the proposed project, and those in attendance must be given an opportunity to present oral or written statements and to submit other documents concerning the project. EDPL § 203. The hearing must be conducted on the record, and the record must include a transcript of all oral statements made at the hearing and copies of all written statements and other documents submitted at the hearing. Id; EDPL § 207(A) (indicating that the record includes “a written transcript” of the public hearing). The ESDC issued a Notice of Public Hearing on July 24, 2006 and held a public hearing on August 23, 2006. In addition, on September 12, 2006, the ESDC held a community forum to discuss the Project. Within ninety days of a public hearing, a condemnor must publish a synopsis of its determination and findings. EDPL § 204(A). The synopsis must specify (1) the public use, benefit, or purpose to be served by the proposed public project; (2) the location of the project and the reason(s) that location was selected; (3) the general effect of the project on the environment and residents of the locality; and (4)other factors the condemnor considers relevant. EDPL § 204(B). The ESDC issued its determination and findings on December 8, 2006, indicating that ESDC should and would use its power of condemnation to acquire Plaintiffs’ properties. (Determination and Findings (12/15/06 Kraus Decl. (Docket No. 51) Ex. E) (available at http:// www.empire.state.ny.us/pdf/ AtlanticYards/Determination " andPind-ings.pdf (last visited June 5, 2007)).) The ESDC identified the following as the public purposes to be served by the Project: (1) The elimination of blight in both the Takings and Non-Takings Areas (Determination and Findings) (Id at 1, 4, 5), which is the purported “principal” public purpose of the Project (Id. at 4); (2) An arena to be used by a major-league sports franchise, for athletic contests featuring local academic institutions, and for other entertainment and civic events (Id. at 5); (3) Approximately 2,250 units of “affordable” rental housing and between 3,075 and 4,180 units of “market rate” housing (Id); (4) Between 336,000 and 1,606,000 square feet of office space (Id); (5) “Possibly” a hotel (Id); (6) Eight acres of publicly accessible space (Id); (7) Ground-level retail space “to activate the street frontages” (Id); (8) “Community facility spaces”, including those offering child care and “youth and senior center service” (Id at 5 — 6); (9) A facility for the Long Island Railroad to store, clean, and inspect its trains (Id at 6); (10) An additional entrance to an already existing subway station (Id); (11) “[Sjustainability and green design” (Id); and (12) “[Ejnvironmental remediation of the Project Site” (Id). Plaintiffs expect that their properties will be condemned and seized “in short order” in order to effectuate the Project. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review of the condemnor’s determination and findings within thirty days of their publication. EDPL § 207(A). The EDPL provides that the aggrieved person may sue only in the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court and only in the Department of the Appellate Division that embraces the county in which the property at issue is located. Id Judicial review is conducted “on the record,” ie., based on the record of the Section 201 hearing and the Section 204 determination and findings. Id The Appellate Division’s review is limited to whether (1) the proceeding was in conformity with the federal and state constitutions; (2) the proposed acquisition is within the condemnor’s statutory jurisdiction or authority; (3) the condemnor’s determination and findings were made in accordance with procedures set forth in Article Two of the EDPL and with Article Eight of the New York Environmental Conservation Law; and (4) a public use, benefit, or purpose will be served by the proposed acquisition. EDPL § 207(C). The decision of the Appellate Division may be appealed to the New York Court of Appeals. EDPL § 207(B). Plaintiffs have chosen to bring their Section 207 claim before this court, pursuant to the doctrine of supplemental jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1367, rather than before the Appellate Division. 2. Article Four When, as in this case, the condemnor is an entity other than the State of New York, the condemnor must file a petition in New York State Supreme Court in order to acquire the condemned property. EDPL §§ 402(B), 501. This petition must be filed within three years of the latest among (1) publication of the condemnor’s Section 204 determination and findings, (2) the date of the order or completion of the procedure that constitutes the basis of an exemption to Section 204 under EDPL § 206, and (3) entry of the final order or judgment based on Section 207 judicial review. EDPL § 401(A). The condemnor’s petition must set forth (a) the basis for compliance with Article Two of the EDPL, including a copy of its determination and findings; (b) an acquisition map, including the names and places of residence of condemnees; (c) a description of the real property to be acquired and its location; (d) the public use, benefit, or purpose for which the property is required; and (e) a request that the court direct entry of an order authorizing the filing of the acquisition map. EDPL § 402(B)(3). The condemnor must notify the public of the petition at least twenty days before its return date. EDPL § 402(B)(2). Any condemnee may file an answer to the petition. EDPL § 402(B)(4). Should the court find that the procedural requirements of New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure law have been met, it must enter an order granting the petition. EDPL § 402(B)(5). When the condemnor files such an order with the appropriate county clerk or register, “the acquisition of the property ... shall be complete and title to such property shall then be vested in the condemnor.” Id. After title vests in the condemnor, a condemnee may sue for just compensation. See generally EDPL Art. 5. As of the date the Amended Complaint was filed, the FCRC had not commenced Article Four proceedings to acquire Plaintiffs’ property. II. Procedural History Before the court are two cases that have been consolidated. The first case, 06-CV-5827 (the “Gold-stein case”), was filed on October 26, 2006. Plaintiffs to the Goldstein case (collectively, “Goldstein”) initially asserted three causes of action, each pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the United States Constitution: (1) a violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, (2) a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and (3) a violation of the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. On December 15, 2006, all Defendants moved to dismiss the Goldstein case. On January 5, 2007, Gold-stein responded to Defendants’ motions to dismiss and filed an Amended Complaint, which added as a fourth cause of action a supplemental claim against the ESDC pursuant to EDPL § 207. On January 11, 2007, the second case, 07-CV-152 (the “Piller case”), was filed by Aaron Piller and Rockwell Property Management, LLC (together, “Piller”). Piller asserted the same four causes of action as Goldstein and sued the same Defendants. On January 19, 2007, all Defendants filed reply papers in support of their motions to dismiss the Goldstein case. Also on that date, the ESDC filed a motion to dismiss Goldstein’s fourth cause of action. On January 26, 2007, Goldstein responded to the ESDC’s motion to dismiss the fourth cause of action. On February 1, 2007, the ESDC filed reply papers in support of its motion to dismiss the fourth cause of action. On February 7, 2007, Judge Levy, to whom I referred Defendants’ motions to dismiss the Goldstein case, heard oral argument regarding those motions. On February 23, 2007, Judge Levy recommended that I dismiss the Goldstein case on the ground of Burford abstention. (Report and Recommendations (Docket No. 83) at 33-42.) Judge Levy also recommended that I decline to dismiss the Goldstein case on the grounds of ripeness and Younger abstention. (Id. at 14-33.) Judge Levy did not consider whether Goldstein stated a claim upon which relief could be granted. (Id. at 42.) On March 8, 2007, the Goldstein and Piller cases were consolidated. (Stipulation and Order (Docket No. 85).) The parties agreed, and this court so ordered, that “Defendants’ pending motions to dismiss in the Goldstein Action, and the Gold-stein Plaintiffs’ opposition thereto, shall be and hereby are deemed filed in the Piller Action, and the disposition of Defendants’ motions in the Goldstein Action shall be deemed to apply to the Piller Action with equal force.” (Id. ¶ 2.) On March 9, 2007, the parties filed objections to Judge Levy’s Report and Recommendations. On March 23, 2007, the parties responded to each other’s objections. On March 28, 2007, the parties filed reply papers in support of their objections. On March 30, 2007, this court heard oral argument regarding those objections. On May 22, 2007, Governor Pataki filed a supplemental letter. On May 25, 2007, the ESDC filed a supplemental letter. On June 5, 2007, Plaintiffs filed a supplemental letter. This court has considered all arguments submitted by the parties to this case. III. Analysis The parties collectively challenge all of Judge Levy’s recommendations. I must therefore consider de novo Defendants’ motions to dismiss. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b). I will first address Burford abstention, which Judge Levy recommended I accept as a ground for dismissal. I decline to dismiss on that ground. I will then address ripeness and Younger abstention, which Judge Levy recommended I reject as grounds for dismissal. I accept and adopt those recommendations. I will then consider whether Plaintiffs have stated a claim upon which relief can be granted. I find that they have not. I therefore grant Defendants’ motions to dismiss. A. Burford Abstention Defendants argue, relying on the doctrine established in Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943) and its progeny, that the court must abstain from hearing this case. The Supreme Court has summarized Burford abstention as follows: Where timely and adequate state-court review is available, a federal court sitting in equity must decline to interfere with the proceedings or orders of state administrative agencies: (1) when there are difficult questions of state law bearing on policy problems of substantial public import whose importance transcends the result in the case then at bar; or (2) where the exercise of federal review of the question in a case and in similar cases would be disruptive of state efforts to establish a coherent policy with respect to a matter of substantial public concern. New Orleans Pub. Serv., Inc. v. Council of City of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 361, 109 S.Ct. 2506, 105 L.Ed.2d 298 (1989) (citation and quotation marks omitted) (hereinafter, “NOPSI"). Defendants believe, and Judge Levy recommends that I find, that this case falls into the second NOPSI category. (ESDC’s 12/15/06 Br. (Docket No. 52) at 26-27; ESDC’s 3/23/07 Br. (Docket No. 95) at 1, 4; FCRC’s 3/23/07 Br. (Docket No. 93) at 5; City Defs.’ 3/23/07 Br. (Docket No. 92) at 2; Report and Recommendation (Docket No. 83) at 33-42.) The court declines to abstain under Bur-ford. Such abstention would be inappropriate because federal-court review of the questions presented in this and similar cases will not disrupt New York’s effort to establish a coherent eminent-domain policy. To understand why, it is necessary to consider carefully the facts of Burford. the reasons abstention was appropriate in Burford and the one other Supreme Court case approving of such abstention, and the reasons Burford abstention was improper in all other cases in which the Supreme Court considered it. 1. Supreme Court Cases Approving Burford Abstention a. Burford v. Sun Oil Co. Although federal courts “are under a virtually unflagging obligation to exercise the jurisdiction given them ... there are exceptional circumstances where a federal court may decline to decide a dispute properly before it.” Cannady v. Valentin, 768 F.2d 501, 503 (2d Cir.1985); see also West v. Vill. of Morrisville, 728 F.2d 130, 135 (2d Cir.1984). “Abdication of the obligation to decide cases can be justified under [abstention] doctrine only in the exceptional circumstances where the order to the parties to repair to the state court would clearly serve an important countervailing interest. It was never a doctrine of equity that a federal court should exercise its judicial discretion to dismiss a suit merely because a State court could entertain it.” Colo. River, 424 U.S. at 813-14, 96 S.Ct. 1236 (citations and quotation marks omitted); see also Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U.S. 706, 716, 116 S.Ct. 1712, 135 L.Ed.2d 1 (1996); County of Allegheny v. Frank Mashuda Co., 360 U.S. 185, 189, 79 S.Ct. 1060, 3 L.Ed.2d 1163 (1959). In Burford, the Supreme Court affirmed a district court’s decision to abstain from hearing a case involving a question of state law because “[cjonflicts in the interpretation of [the] state law, dangerous to the success of state policies, are almost certain to result from the intervention of the lower federal courts.” Burford, 319 U.S. at 334, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The state law at issue in Burford was “the general regulatory system devised for the conservation of oil and gas in Texas, an aspect of as thorny a problem as has challenged the ingenuity and wisdom of legislatures.” Id. at 318, 63 S.Ct. 1098 (citation and quotation marks omitted). The plaintiff, the Sun Oil Company, contested a decision of the Texas Railroad Commission (“Commission”) to permit Burford to drill four oil wells on a portion of a large oil field in East Texas. Id. at 316-17, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Supreme Court described that field as follows: [It] is one of the largest in the United States. It is approximately forty miles long and between five and nine miles wide, and over 26,000 wells have been drilled in it. Oil exists in the pores and crevices of rocks and sand and moves through these channels. A large area of this sort is called a pool or reservoir and the East Texas field is a giant pool. The chief forces causing oil to move are gas and water, and it is essential that the pressures be maintained at a level which will force the oil through wells to the surface. As the gas pressure is dissipated, it becomes necessary to put the well on the pump at great expense; and the sooner the gas from a field is exhausted, the more oil is irretrievably lost. Since the oil moves through the entire field, one operator can not only draw the oil from under his own surface area, but can also, if he is advantageously located, drain oil from the most distant parts of the reservoir. The practice of attempting to drain oil from under the surface holdings of others leads to offset wells and other wasteful practices; and this problem is increased by the fact that the surface rights are split up into many small tracts. There are approximately nine hundred operators in the East Texas field alone. Id. at 318-19, 63 S.Ct. 1098 (citations, quotation marks, and footnotes omitted). The Court observed that for a variety of “reasons based on geological realities,” including those just described, “each oil and gas field must be regulated as a unit for conservation purposes.” Id. at 319, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Texas state legislature delegated such regulation to the Texas Railroad Commission (“Commission”): The Commission, in cooperation with other oil producing states, has accepted State oil production quotas and has undertaken to translate the amount to be produced for the State as a whole into a specific amount for each field and for each well. These judgments are made with due regard for the factors of full utilization of the oil supply, market demand, and protection of the individual operators, as well as protection of the public interest. As an essential aspect of the control program, the State also regulates the spacing of wells. The legislature has disavowed a purpose of requiring that the separately owned properties in any pool should be unitized under one management, control or ownership and the Commission must thus work out the difficult spacing problem with due regard for whatever rights Texas recognizes in the separate owners to a share of the common reservoir. At the same time it must restrain waste, whether by excessive production or by the unwise dissipation of the gas and other geologic factors that cause the oil to flow. Id. at 320-22, 63 S.Ct. 1098 (citations and quotation marks omitted). In order to achieve the desired level of production, avoid waste, and recognize separate owners’ shares of the common reservoir, the Commission adopted Rule 37, which provided for minimum spacing between wells, permitted exceptions where necessary to prevent waste, and aimed to allow each surface owner to recover oil and gas “substantially equivalent in amount to the recoverable oil and gas under his land.” Id. at 322, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The ostensible simplicity of this goal was “delusive,” however, because nobody could be certain just how much oil was present under the land of each surface holder. Id. at 323, 63 S.Ct. 1098. Because the questions of waste and confiscation were interrelated, such that “decision of one of the questions necessarily involve[d] recognition of the other,” Id., and because “over two-thirds of the wells in the East Texas field exist[ed] as exceptions,” Id. at 324, 63 S.Ct. 1098, the Commission was charged with balancing private rights against each other and, simultaneously, against the public interest: The standards applied by the Commission in a given case necessarily affect the entire state conservation system. Of far more importance than any other private interest is the fact that the overall plan of regulation, as well as each of its case by case manifestations, is of vital interest to the general public which must be assured that the speculative interests of individual tract owners will be put aside when necessary to prevent the irretrievable loss of oil in other parts of the field. The Commission in applying the statutory standards of course considers the Rule 37 cases as a part of the entire conservation program with implications to the whole economy of the state. Id. at 324-25, 63 S.Ct. 1098. In order to balance those interests, Texas not only provided for centralized resolution of exception disputes by the Commission, but for centralized judicial review of the Commission’s decisions: The Commission orders may be appealed to a State district court in Travis County, and are reviewed by a branch of the Court of Civil Appeals and by the State Supreme Court. While the constitutional power of the Commission to enforce Rule 37 or to make exceptions to it is seldom seriously challenged, the validity of particular orders from the standpoint of statutory interpretation may present a serious problem, and a substantial number of such cases have been disposed of by the Texas courts which alone have the power to give definite answers to the questions of State law posed in these proceedings. Id. at 325, 63 S.Ct. 1098 (citations omitted). Concentration of challenges to Commission orders in Travis County was intended to prevent the “interminable confusion [that] would result” if the Commission’s decisions could be attacked in various courts. Id. at 326, 63 S.Ct. 1098. In addition, “[concentration of judicial supervision of Railroad Commission orders permits the state courts, like the Railroad Commission itself, to acquire a specialized knowledge which is useful in shaping the policy of regulation of the ever-changing demands in this field.” Id. Sun Oil sued in federal court rather than Travis County, relying for jurisdiction on the parties’ diversity of citizenship and the contention that the Commission’s order denied Sun Oil due process. Id. at 317, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Supreme Court framed the question presented to it as, “Assuming that the federal district court had jurisdiction, should it, as a matter of sound equitable discretion, have declined to exercise that jurisdiction here?” Id. at 318, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Court answered that question in the affirmative, concluding that “sound respect for the independence of state action require[d] the federal equity court to stay its hand.” Id. at 334, 63 S.Ct. 1098. Although the Court did not reduce its reasoning to a simple formula, it made clear that its conclusion was based on five factors: (1) facts about the East Texas oil field, (2) Texas’s centralized approach to regulating oil drilling, (3) Texas’s centralized system for reviewing regulatory decisions, (4) the dangers of federal review of regulatory decisions, and (5) the nature of the question presented in the case. I will briefly elaborate upon each. i.The East Texas Oil Field The first factor was the East Texas oil field. The Supreme Court observed that the field had to be regulated as a single unit because each operator could, if advantageously located, draw oil from underneath land other than his own, a fact that had led to “offset wells” and other wasteful practices. Id. at 319, 323, 63 S.Ct. 1098. In addition, the Court noted that oil was vitally important to Texas, which drew much of its revenue from taxing the oil industry — a circumstance that would exacerbate the harm from wasted oil. Id. at 320, 324, 63 S.Ct. 1098. And wasted oil was not a mere theoretical concern: “the sooner the gas from a field is exhausted, the more oil is irretrievably lost.” Id. at 319, 63 S.Ct. 1098. For that reason, any failure to award drilling rights where oil existed, and even any slight delay in awarding such rights, would rob consumers of oil and Texas of tax revenue, ii.Texas’s Centralized Approach to Regulating Oil Drilling The second factor the Court considered was “the general regulatory system devised for the conservation of oil and gas in Texas, an aspect of as thorny a problem as has challenged the ingenuity and wisdom of legislatures.” Id. at 318, 63 S.Ct. 1098 (citation and quotation marks omitted). The Court noted that Congress had chosen not to regulate oil fields, Id. at 319, 63 S.Ct. 1098, and that “the State’s attempts to control the flow of oil and at the same time protect the interest of the many operators have from time to time been entangled in geological-legal problems of novel nature,” Id. at 320, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Court then observed that in order to solve the problem of oil-field regulation, the Texas legislature gave the Commission “broad discretion in administering the law.” Id. at 320, 63 S.Ct. 1098 (citation and quotation marks omitted). The Commission proceeded by “accepting] State oil production quotas and [ ] undertaking] to translate the amount to be produced for the State as a whole into a specific amount for each field and for each well.” Id. at 320, 63 S.Ct. 1098; see also Id. at 320 n. 12, 63 S.Ct. 1098. “At the same time [the Commission was required to] restrain waste, whether by excessive production or by the unwise dissipation of the gas and other geological factors that cause the oil to flow.” Id. at 322, 63 S.Ct. 1098. And “since the waste and confiscation problems are as a matter of physical necessity so closely interrelated, decision of one of the questions necessarily involves recognition of the other.” Id. at 323, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Court found that the Commission’s broad discretion was necessary in order to balance private interests against the public interest: [Cases] involving “confiscation”, are not mere isolated disputes between private parties. Aside from the general principles which may evolve from these proceedings, the physical facts are such that an additional permit may affect pressure on a well miles away. The standards applied by the Commission in a given case necessarily affect the entire state conservation system. Id. at 324, 63 S.Ct. 1098. iii.Texas’s Centralized System of Judicial Review of Regulatory Decisions The third factor upon which the Supreme Court relied was the Texas state legislature’s decision to concentrate a “system of thorough judicial review” of Commission decisions in a single Texas court located in Travis County. Id. at 325, 63 S.Ct. 1098. Such concentration served the purposes of (1) avoiding inconsistent decisions on appeal from Commission orders, which would lead to “intolerable confusion” and, potentially, wasted oil and tax revenue, and (2) allowing the court that reviewed Commission decisions “to acquire a specialized knowledge which is useful in shaping the policy of regulation of the ever-changing demands in this field.” Id. at 325, 327, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Court observed that the Travis County court, utilizing its specialized knowledge, acted as a “working partner” with the Commission and had some arguably “legislative powers,” Id. at 325-27, 63 S.Ct. 1098, and that its review of the Commission’s decisions was “expeditious and adequate,” Id. at 334, 63 S.Ct. 1098. iv. The Dangers of Federal Review of Regulatory Decisions Fourth, the Court relied on actual and expected problems arising from federal review of Commission decisions. It first found that the “confusion” sought to be avoided by Texas’s scheme of centralized judicial review had actually resulted when federal courts had reviewed Commission decisions. The cases before those federal courts would have been better brought in state court because they “dealt primarily with the interpretation of state law, some of it state law fairly remote from oil and gas problems.” Id. at 331, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The federal courts misinterpreted state law and so disrupted Texas’s scheme that state laws were amended, special sessions of the state legislature were called, and the Governor of Texas imposed martial law. Id. at 327-33 & n. 26, 63 S.Ct. 1098. In addition, the Supreme Court found that such confusion would likely result in the future should plaintiffs continue to bring federal oil field cases: “Conflicts in the interpretation of state law, dangerous to the success of state policies, are almost certain to result from the intervention of the lower federal courts.” Id. at 334, 63 S.Ct. 1098. Equally importantly, the Court noted that “if the state procedure is followed from the Commission to the State Supreme Court, ultimate review of the federal questions is fully preserved here.” Id. In other words, the Court found that federal-court review gave rise to tremendous risks and offered no benefits, whereas state-court review gave rise to no risks (because the federal judiciary retained the power to consider federal questions at a later date) and had the benefit of producing correct and consistent interpretations of state law: “As a practical matter, the federal courts can make small contribution to the well organized system of regulation and review which the Texas statutes provide. Texas courts can give fully as great relief, including temporary restraining orders, as the federal courts.” Id. at 327, 63 S.Ct. 1098. v. The Question Presented in Burford Fifth, the Court considered the nature of the question of law underlying Burford. Although Sun Oil claimed to sue in order to redress a due process violation, it apparently urged the Court to instead consider whether the Commission’s decision was “reasonable” under Texas statutory law, a question distinct from that of whether the Commission afforded Sun Oil due process. Id. at 331-32, 63 S.Ct. 1098; see also Quackenbush, 517 U.S. at 723, 116 S.Ct. 1712 (“The principal issue presented in Burford was the ‘reasonableness’ of an order issued by the Texas Railroad Commission[.]”) In addition, Sun Oil’s ease “raised a number of [other] problems” of state law that were “of no general significance,” including questions of res judicata and jurisdiction, regarding which “a federal court can only try to ascertain state law.” Burford, 319 U.S. at 331, 63 S.Ct. 1098. These state-law questions were so unsettled that abstention under Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941) may have been necessary in order to permit the state to issue an “authoritative determination of the difficult state questions.” Burford, at 331, 63 S.Ct. 1098. b. Alabama Like Burford, Ala. Pub. Serv. Comrn’n v. S. Ry. Co., 341 U.S. 341, 71 S.Ct. 762, 95 L.Ed. 1002 (1951) fits in the second NOPSI category, which is the category at issue in the present case. NOPSI, 491 U.S. at 361, 362, 109 S.Ct. 2506; Colo. River, 424 U.S. at 815, 96 S.Ct. 1236. Southern Railway sued to enjoin members of the Alabama Public Service Commission (“APSC”) from enforcing an order that prohibited Southern Railway from abandoning two unprofitable intrastate train routes. Alabama at 342, 71 S.Ct. 762. Under Alabama law, the APSC’s permission was a prerequisite to such abandonment. Id. Southern Railway argued that the APSC’s decision violated the right to due process. Id. at 343, 71 S.Ct. 762. A three-judge federal trial court agreed. Id. at 343-44, 346-47, 71 S.Ct. 762. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the federal trial court should have abstained under Burford. Alabama at 349-51, 71 S.Ct. 762. In reaching this conclusion, the Court relied on factors similar to those cited in Burford: (1) facts about intrastate rail transportation, (2) Alabama’s centralized approach to regulating intrastate rail transportation, (3) Alabama’s centralized system for reviewing regulatory decisions, (4) the dangers of federal review of regulatory decisions, and (5) the nature of the question presented in the case. First, the Court observed that intrastate rail transportation was “primarily the concern of the state,” Id. at 346, 71 S.Ct. 762, and that “the problems raised by the discontinuance of trains Nos. 7 and 8 cannot be resolved alone by reference to appel-lee’s loss in their operation but depend more upon the predominantly local factor of public need for the service rendered,” Id. at 347, 71 S.Ct. 762. Second, the Court relied on the fact Alabama state law required railroad companies to receive permission from the APSC before abandoning intrastate routes. Id. at 342, 71 S.Ct. 762. In denying such permission to Southern Railway, the APSC relied on a local, fact-specific inquiry, concluding “that there exist[ed] a public need for the service and that appellee had not attempted to reduce losses through adoption of more economical operating methods.” Id. at 343, 71 S.Ct. 762. Third, the Court relied on Alabama’s decision to concentrate judicial review of APSC decisions in a single court: Not only has Alabama established its Public Service Commission to pass upon a proposed discontinuance of intrastate transportation service, but it has also provided for appeal from any final order of the Commission to the circuit court of Montgomery County as a matter of right. That court, after a hearing on the record certified by the Commission, is empowered to set aside any Commission order found to be contrary to the substantial weight of the evidence or erroneous as a matter of law and its decision may be appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court. Statutory appeal from an order of the Commission is an integral part of the regulatory process under the Alabama Code. Appeals, concentrated in one circuit court, are supervisory in character. Id. at 348, 71 S.Ct. 762 (citations and quotation marks omitted). As in Burford, the Supreme Court in Alabama cited the adequacy of this judicial review, observing that “Appellee has not shown that the Alabama procedure for review of Commission orders is in any way inadequate to preserve for ultimate review in this Court any federal questions arising out of such orders.” Alabama at 349, 71 S.Ct. 762. Fourth and fifth, the Court relied on the dangers of federal review and on the nature of the question presented, which was, in effect, a pure question of state law. Most notably, the Court observed with unsuppressed disdain “that a federal court has been asked to intervene in resolving the essentially local problem of balancing the loss to the railroad from continued operation of trains Nos. 7 and 8 with the public need for that service in Tuscumbia, Decatur, Huntsville, Scottsboro, and the other Alabama communities directly affected.” Id. at 347-48, 71 S.Ct. 762. 2. Supreme Court Cases Rejecting Burford Abstention In all cases decided after Alabama in which the Supreme Court considered Bur-ford abstention, it held that such abstention was inappropriate. i. Allegheny In County of Allegheny v. Frank Mashuda Co., 360 U.S. 185, 79 S.Ct. 1060, 3 L.Ed.2d 1163 (1959), the Supreme Court held that a district court may not abstain under Bivrford from exercising diversity jurisdiction— [I]n a state eminent domain case in which the exercise of that jurisdiction would not entail the possibility of a premature and perhaps unnecessary decision of a serious federal constitutional question, would not create the hazard of unsettling some delicate balance in the area of federal-state relationships, and would not even require the District Court to guess at the resolution of uncertain and difficult issues of state law. Allegheny at 187, 79 S.Ct. 1060. The plaintiffs in Alabama sued a local authority that had exercised the power of eminent domain to acquire their property, which it then leased it to a private business. Id. The plaintiffs sued under a state law providing that “private property cannot be taken for a private use under the power of eminent domain.” Id. (citation and quotation marks omitted). The district court dismissed the case under an abstention theory. Id. at 188, 79 S.Ct. 1060. In concluding that Burford abstention in particular was unwarranted, the Supreme Court relied on its finding that the only question presented, although a question of state law, was a “purely factual question” (“whether the County expropriated the respondents’ land for private rather than for public use,” Allegheny at 190, 79 S.Ct. 1060; see also Id. at 196, 79 S.Ct. 1060) based on state law that was “settled,” Id. at 188, 79 S.Ct. 1060, “clear and certain,” Id. at 196, 79 S.Ct. 1060. The Court also relied on its finding that a refusal to exercise federal jurisdiction would cause “delay and expense” to all parties, because the plaintiffs would re-file their case in state court, and especially to plaintiffs, because if their suit had merit, they would suffer “further prolonged unlawful denial of the possession of their property.” Id. at 196, 79 S.Ct. 1060. The Allegheny Court considered whether Burford abstention is more appropriate in eminent-domain cases than in other eases involving state or local issues. It concluded that it is not: [EJminent domain is no more mystically involved with “sovereign prerogative” than a State’s power to regulate fishing in its waters, its power to regulate intrastate trucking rates, a city’s power to issue certain bonds without a referendum, its power to license motor vehicles, and a host of other governmental activities carried on by the States and their subdivisions which have been brought into question in the Federal District Courts despite suggestions that those courts should have stayed their hand pending prior state court determination of state law. Allegheny at 192, 79 S.Ct. 1060 (citations to cases omitted). The Court made three observations in support of the quoted statement. First, it observed that “the federal courts have been adjudicating cases involving issues of state eminent domain law for many years, without any suggestion that there was entailed a hazard of friction in federal-state relations.” Id. Second, the Court observed that it had repeatedly approved of “Federal District Courts [] deciding] state condemnation proceedings in proper cases despite challenges to the power of the condemning authority to take the property.” Id. at 194, 79 S.Ct. 1060. Third, the Court observed that Fed.R.Civ.P. 71A(k), which has not changed since Allegheny was decided, “makes perfectly clear ... that this Court ... intended that state eminent domain cases, including those which raised questions of authority to take land, would be tried in the Federal District Courts if jurisdiction was properly invoked.” Id. at 195, 79 S.Ct. 1060 (footnote omitted). “Rule 71A was adopted only after a thorough investigation of eminent domain practice in the federal courts, and its provision for trying state eminent domain cases in the District Courts necessarily reflects a conclusion that this practice is unobjectionable.” Id. at 195-96, 79 S.Ct. 1060. ii. McNeese In McNeese v. Bd. of Educ. for Cmty. Unit Sch. Dist. 187, 373 U.S. 668, 83 S.Ct. 1433, 10 L.Ed.2d 622 (1963), African-American public-school students sued under federal law to desegregate their school. McNeese at 669, 83 S.Ct. 1433. The district court dismissed the case because it found that the students had not exhausted administrative remedies available under state law. Id. at 670, 83 S.Ct. 1433. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, Id., and the Supreme Court reversed, Id. at 676, 83 S.Ct. 1433. In reversing, the Supreme Court considered whether Burford abstention was appropriate. It found that for two reasons, it was not. First, it found that the question presented was a question of purely federal law, which was “plainly federal in origin and nature” and was not “in any way entangled in a skein of state law that must be untangled before the federal case can proceed.” Id. at 674, 83 S.Ct. 1433. The federal district court therefore had no reason to consider “whether respondents’ conduct is legal or illegal as a matter of state law.” Id. Second, the Court found that “it is by no means clear that Illinois law provides petitioners with an administrative remedy sufficiently adequate to preclude prior resort to a federal court for protection of their federal rights.” Id. at 674-75, 83 S.Ct. 1433. iii. Colorado River In Colo. River Water Conser. Dist. v. U.S., 424 U.S. 800, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976), the United States sought a declaration that it and several Indian tribes, rather than defendant water users, owned the right to water in certain rivers under Colorado law. Colo. River at 804-806, 96 S.Ct. 1236. The United States sued in federal district court, relying for jurisdiction on 28 U.S.C. § 1345, which provided, “Except as otherwise provided by Act of Congress, the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions, suits or proceedings commenced by the United States, or by any agency or officer thereof expressly authorized to sue by Act of Congress.” Colo. River at 805, 96 S.Ct. 1236. The district court dismissed the case under a general theory of abstention, although it apparently did not cite Burford in its oral decision. Id. at 806, 96 S.Ct. 1236; see also U.S. v. Akin, 504 F.2d 115, 117 (10th Cir.1974). The Tenth Circuit reversed. Colo. River at 806, 96 S.Ct. 1236; Akin. Although the Supreme Court held that dismissal was proper, it rejected the application of Burford abstention, and in particular the second category identified in NOPSI, which is the category at issue in the present case. Colo. River at 814-16, 96 S.Ct. 1236. The Court offered two reasons for rejecting Burford. The first was that, as in Allegheny, “[wjhile state claims are involved in the case, the state law to be applied appears to be settled.” Colo. River at 815, 96 S.Ct. 1236. The second reason was that Colo. River presented “[n]o questions bearing on state policy.” Id. In other words, “decision of the state claims [would not] impair efforts to implement state policy as in Burford.” Id. The Court elaborated: To be sure, the federal claims that are involved in the case go to the establishment of water rights which may conflict with similar rights based on state law. But the mere potential for conflict in the results of adjudications, does not, without more, warrant staying exercise of federal jurisdiction. The potential conflict here, involving state claims and federal claims, would not be such as to impair impermissibly the State’s effort to effect its policy respecting the allocation of state waters. Nor would exercise of federal jurisdiction here interrupt any such efforts by restraining the exercise of authority vested in state officers. Id. at 815-16, 96 S.Ct. 1236 (citations omitted). iv. NOPSI In NOPSI, 491 U.S. 350, 109 S.Ct. 2506, 105 L.Ed.2d 298 (1989), the plaintiff, a power company, sued the New Orleans City Council (“Council”) based on the Council’s decision to deny an immediate rate increase that the plaintiff sought in order to recover its share of the cost of building a nuclear power plant. NOPSI at 353-55, 109 S.Ct. 2506. The district court dismissed the case, relying at least in part on Burford, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed. NOPSI at 358, 109 S.Ct. 2506. The Supreme Court reversed because it found that the case “d[id] not involve a state-law claim, nor even an assertion that the federal claims are ‘in any way entangled in a skein of state-law that must be untangled before the federal case can proceed.’ ” Id. at 361, 109 S.Ct. 2506 (quoting McNeese, 373 U.S. at 674, 83 S.Ct. 1433). In doing so, it noted that “[w]hile Burford is concerned with protecting complex state administrative processes from undue federal interference, it does not require abstention whenever there exists such a process, or even in all cases where there is a ‘potential for conflict’ with state regulatory law or policy.” NOPSI at 362, 109 S.Ct. 2506 (quoting Colo. River, 424 U.S. at 815-16, 96 S.Ct. 1236). It then applied this observation to the case at hand: Here, NOPSI’s primary claim is that the Council is prohibited by federal law from refusing to provide reimbursement for FERC-allocated wholesale costs. Unlike a claim that a state agency has misapplied its lawful authority or has failed to take into consideration or properly weigh relevant state-law factors, federal adjudication of this sort of preemption claim would not disrupt the State’s attempt to ensure uniformity in the treatment of an “essentially local problem[.]” * * * [N]o inquiry beyond the four corners of the Council’s retail rate order is needed to determine whether it is facially preempted by FERC’s allocative decree and relevant provisions of the Federal Power Act. Such an inquiry would not unduly intrude into the processes of state government or undermine the State’s ability to maintain desired uniformity. It may, of course, result in an injunction against enforcement of the rate order, but “there is ... no doctrine requiring abstention merely because resolution of a federal question may result in the overturning of a state policy.” NOPSI at 362-63, 109 S.Ct. 2506 (quoting Ala., 341 U.S. at 347, 71 S.Ct. 762 and Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 380 n. 5, 98 S.Ct. 673, 54 L.Ed.2d 618 (1978), respectively). The Court noted that NOPSI had argued, “as an alternative to its facial preemption challenge,” that the Council’s decision was a pretext for the Council’s determination that NOPSI had been unwise in investing in the nuclear plant. Id. at 363, 109 S.Ct. 2506. The Court conceded that “[ujnlike the facial challenge, this claim cannot be resolved on the face of the rate order, because it hinges largely on the plausibility of the Council’s finding that NOPSI should have, and could have, diversified its supply portfolio and thereby lowered its average wholesale costs,” and that “[a]nalysis of this pretext claim requires an inquiry into industry practice, wholesale rates, and power availability during the relevant time period, an endeavor that demands some level of industry-specific expertise.” Id. It nevertheless found Bur-ford abstention inappropriate, reasoning that because “wholesale electricity is not bought and sold within a predominantly local market, [such an inquiry] does not demand significant familiarity with, and will not disrupt state resolution of, distinctively local regulatory facts or policies. The principles underlying Burford are therefore not implicated.” Id. at 363-64, 109 S.Ct. 2506 (emphasis in original), v. Quackenbush In Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U.S. 706, 116 S.Ct. 1712, 135 L.Ed.2d 1 (1996), the California Insurance Commissioner sued Allstate in state court for allegedly breaching a contract with a defunct insurer called Mission. Quackenbush at 709, 116 S.Ct. 1712. Allstate removed the case to federal district court and moved the district court to compel arbitration. Id. The district court abstained under Burford and remanded the case to state court because Allstate’s setoff claims raised “a hotly disputed question of state law” that was the subject of a pending state case. Quackenbush at 709-10, 116 S.Ct. 1712. The district court did not address the motion to compel arbitration. Id. at 710,116 S.Ct. 1712. The Ninth Circuit reversed and ordered the case to arbitration, reasoning that a district court may abstain under Burford only when the relief sought is equitable. Quackenbush at 710, 729-30, 116 S.Ct. 1712. The Supreme Court affirmed, but rejected the Ninth Circuit’s holding, which seemed to establish a per se prohibition on Burford abstention in non-equity cases. The Supreme Court instead held that “federal courts have the power to dismiss or remand cases based on abstention principles only where the relief being sought is equitable or otherwise discretionary. Because this was a damages action, we conclude that the District Court’s remand order was an unwarranted application of the Burford doctrine.” Quackenbush at 731, 116 S.Ct. 1712 (emphasis added). The Court therefore found it unnecessary “to inquire fully as to whether this case presents the sort of ‘exceptional circumstance’ in which Burford abstention or other grounds for yielding federal jurisdiction might be appropriate.” Id. It nevertheless explained that Burford abstention was inappropriate “based on a careful consideration of the federal interests in retaining jurisdiction over the dispute and the competing concern for the independence of state action.” Quackenbush at 728, 116 S.Ct. 1712 (citation and quotation marks omitted). The Court found that the federal interest in the case — the “federal concern for the enforcement of arbitration agreements”- — was “pronounced,” “substantial,” and “emphatic.” Id. at 728-29, 116 S.Ct. 1712. It then found that this federal interest outweighed the state interest, noting that “the case appears at first blush to present nothing more than a run-of-the-mill contract dispute.” Id. at 729, 116 S.Ct. 1712. The Court recognized that federal litigation might have an “impact” on Mission’s ongoing state-court liquidation proceeding, but found that the state-law issue, which was “hotly contested” when the district court decided to abstain, had since been resolved by the California Supreme Court. Id. 3. Application of Burford to the Present Case Defendants argue that this case belongs in the second category identified in NOPSI and that this court must abstain pursuant to Burford. The court must therefore abstain if (1) “timely and adequate state-court review is available” and (2) the “exercise of federal review of the question in [this] case and in similar cases would be disruptive of state efforts to establish a coherent policy with respect to a matter of substantial public concern.” NOPSI, 491 U.S. at 361, 109 S.Ct. 2506, 105 L.Ed.2d 298 (1989) (quotation marks and citation omitted). I will consider each element in turn. In considering the second element, I will be guided by the Second Circuit’s identification of four relevant factors: (1) “the degree of specificity of the state regulatory scheme,” (2) “the necessity of discretionary interpretation of state statutes,” (3) “whether the subject matter of the litigation is traditionally one of state concern,” and (4) whether the state “ha[s] created a centralized system of judicial review of commission orders, which permit[s] the state courts, like the Railroad Commission itself [in Burford ], to acquire a specialized knowledge of the regulations and industry.” Bethphage Lutheran Serv., Inc. v. Weicker, 965 F.2d 1239, 1243, 1245 (2d Cir.1992) (citations and quotation marks omitted). I will also, however, follow the Second Circuit’s instruction that “[ejvery abstention case is to be decided upon its particular facts and not with recourse to some mechanical checklist.” Id. at 1245 (citation and quotation marks omitted). “Ultimately,” looking beyond the applicable elements, factors, and instructions, this court will abstain if and only if it finds “based on a careful consideration of the federal interests in retaining jurisdiction over the dispute and the competing concern for the ‘independence of state action,’ that the State’s interests are paramount and that a dispute would best be adjudicated in a state forum.” Quackenbush, 517 U.S. at 728, 116 S.Ct. 1712 (quoting Burford, 319 U.S. at 334, 63 S.Ct. 1098 and citing NOPSI, 491 U.S. at 363, 109 S.Ct. 2506). “[Tjhe power to dismiss recognized in Bur-ford represents an ‘extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of the District Court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it.’ ” Quackenbush at 728, 116 S.Ct. 1712 (quoting Colo. River, 424 U.S. at 813, 96 S.Ct. 1236 (quoting Allegheny, 360 U.S. at 188, 79 S.Ct. 1060)). a. Timely and Adequate State-Court Review The Second Circuit has held that EDPL § 207 affords condemnees due process. Brody v. Village of Port Chester, 434 F.3d 121, 132-36 (2d Cir.2005). The question of whether a procedure that affords due process is inherently “adequate” for the purpose of Burford analysis is an intriguing one, and may prove critical to deciding certain cases. This is not such a case. For the purpose of resolving the present motion, I assume that Section 207 provides timely and adequate state-court review, b. Disruption of State Efforts to Establish a Coherent Policy with Respect to a Matter of Substantial Public Concern I will address this element using the four-factor framework adopted by the Second Circuit in Bethphage. I find that each of those factors supports hearing this case rather than abstaining. i. Specificity The first factor is “the degree of specificity of the state regulatory scheme.” Bethphage, 965 F.2d at 1243. This factor favors abstention if “state law provides a comprehensive statutory framework to formulate policy and decide cases, including opportunities for state court review.” Id. The EDPL is not “specific” in the sense relevant to Burford abstention because it does not set forth the criteria by which a condemnor is to determine whether some public project is desirable, nor even criteria by which to determine whether a project justifies the taking of some particular piece of private property rather than another. The EDPL therefore does not provide a framework for formulating policy or deciding cases. Instead, the EDPL applies only after the decision to take private property has already been made. The very first instruction in the EDPL makes this clear: [T]he condemnor, in order to inform the public and to review the public use to be served by a proposed public project and the impact on the environment and residents of the locality where such project will be constructed, shall conduct a public hearing in accordance with the provisions of this article at a location reasonably proximate to the property which may be acquired for such project. EDPL § 201. This instruction assumes that the condemnor has already conceived of a public project and determined what property should be taken in order to effectuate the project. While those decisions depend on the sort of specific, local, fact-intensive inquiries from which a federal court perhaps ought to abstain, considering whether a particular taking is constitutional — as opposed to considering whether it is a good idea — does not. This case is therefore different from Burford and Alabama. In Burford, a federal court was asked to consider whether the Commission’s decision to award drilling rights to one party was “reasonable” under Texas statutory law, a standard that differed from federal constitutional standards more familiar to the court. Burford, 319 U.S. at 331-32, 63 S.Ct. 1098; see also Quackenbush, 517 U.S. at 723, 116 S.Ct. 1712. The Commission made its decisions by accepting overall production quotas for the entire State and determining from those quotas the amount of oil each field and each well would produce. Burford at 320, 320 n. 12, 63 S.Ct. 1098. The Commission was also charged with restraining waste, which resulted both from excessive production and, because of dissipation, from any delay in production. Id. at 322, 63 S.Ct. 1098. It is easy to understand why the Supreme Court held that federal courts ought to abstain from considering such local and specific factors. Similarly, in Alabama “a federal court [was] asked to intervene in resolving the essentially local problem of balancing the loss to the railroad from continued operation of trains Nos. 7 and 8 with the public need for that service in Tuscumbia, Decatur, Huntsville, Scottsboro, and the other Alabama communities direct