Protect Our Parks, Inc. v. Buttigieg

Two not-for-profit organizations and five individuals filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois asserting that federal approvals of the construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park in Chicago failed to comply with “the letter and spirit” of federal statutes, including Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The plaintiffs’ allegations also included that the Obama Presidential Center would have significant and permanent impacts on the Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Project at Jackson Park, a large project led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and designed to address climate change’s impacts on the South Side of Chicago, among other environmental functions. The plaintiffs asserted that the Corps’ approval of modifications to the project violated the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Clean Water Act.