City of Quincy v. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

A Massachusetts Superior Court upheld the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s decision approving, pursuant to the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, the proposed reconstruction of a bridge between Moon Island in Quincy Bay and Long Island in Boston. The court rejected an argument that MassDEP’s failure to consider the impact of sea level rise on the project was legal error. The court said there was no error in the conclusion that the sea level rise claim was not based on “an enforceable legal foundation” and therefore did not state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The court stated that the plaintiffs “conceded at oral argument that existing Wetlands Regulations are not consistent with purported upcoming changes to the Act or the Regulations concerning sea level rise and that MassDEP does not enforce the City of Boston’s Climate Consensus Project.”