Soka Gakkai International-USA v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The federal district court for the Southern District of Florida denied an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction blocking the creation of a water impoundment that is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, which is intended, among other purposes, to improve resilience to climate change. The preliminary injunction was sought by a Nichiren Buddhism community and a related company that operates a religious retreat campus for the community near the planned impoundment. The court adopted a magistrate judge’s conclusion that the plaintiffs did not meet their burden “to warrant the extraordinary remedy of a preliminary injunction requiring cessation of all work” on the impoundment project. The magistrate judge found that the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries were speculative.

A Nichiren Buddhism community and related limited liability company filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Florida seeking to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from proceeding with the “C-11 Impoundment Project,” a component of the Corps’ Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The Corps <a href="https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/3924225/jacksonville-district-awards-three-new-contracts-to-restore-americas-everglades/">says</a> Everglades restoration “provides critical benefits to improve the health of the ecosystem including endangered species habitat, improves water storage, and improves resilience to climate change.” The plaintiffs alleged that in planning the C-11 Impoundment Project, portions of which are adjacent to the community’s retreat campus in Weston, Florida, the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The plaintiffs’ NEPA claim includes allegations that environmental review documents relied on out-of-date climate information that assumed lower rainfall averages that recent data indicated.