A lawsuit filed by three South Carolina-based environmental groups challenged the issuance of a Clean Water Act permit authorizing the filling of wetlands for construction of a mixed-use residential and commercial development in Berkeley County near Charleston. The plaintiffs asserted claims under the Clean Water Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Under the ESA, their arguments included that the biological opinion for the project failed to consider the impacts of climate change on the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Under the Clean Water Act, the plaintiffs contended, among other arguments, that the permit allowed for significant degradation of wetlands that would make residents more vulnerable to flooding and that unnecessary placement of development in locations vulnerable to future sea level rise, flooding, and storm surge would have significant adverse economic effects. Under NEPA, the plaintiffs asserted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to take a hard look at the project’s impacts and that the proposed project required an environmental impact statement, including because of “unique risks posed regarding flooding and development within the floodplain.”

Challenge to the issuance of a Clean Water Act permit authorizing the filling of wetlands for construction of a mixed-use residential and commercial development in South Carolina.

South Carolina Coastal Conservation League v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Environmental Groups Challenged Permit for Mixed-Use Development on Wetlands in South Carolina

Filed

United States of America

South Carolina

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Environmental Groups Challenged Permit for Mixed-Use Development on Wetlands in South Carolina

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance