National Wildlife Federation v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The federal district court for the Southern District of Illinois rejected claims by National Wildlife Federation and other environmental groups that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to comply with NEPA and other statutes when the Corps approved the 2017 Regulating Works Project, which involves activities to maintain a navigation channel in the Middle Mississippi River. The court’s decision did not mention the plaintiffs’ climate change-specific arguments, which included that the final supplemental EIS failed to evaluate the project’s impacts in conjunction with climate change on the Middle Mississippi River’s “vital side channels.” The court concluded, however, that the Corps took a hard look at the science of whether the project would cause increased flooding and that the plaintiffs’ allegations concerning this issue and NEPA violations were “unpersuasive.” The court also found that the Corps did not violate the Water Resources Development Act, the Fish & Wildlife Coordination Act, or the 1927 Rivers & Harbors Act.

–

–