The federal district court for the District of Columbia rejected plaintiffs’ claim that the U.S. Forest Service’s environmental reviews of three timber projects failed to properly weigh cumulative carbon emissions. The projects were located in Missouri, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Citing the Supreme Court’s clarification in <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/seven-county-infrastructure-coalition-v-eagle-county_f6b1f2">Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County</a> regarding the “substantial deference” due to agencies’ decisions in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, the court declined to “second-guess” or “micromanage” choices the Forest Service made in its reviews of the timber projects, including “decisions on which projects are relevant” for a cumulative effects analysis and “how to measure and contextualize the anticipated cumulative effects.” The court found that the environmental review documents, “[r]ead together, … establish that the agency considered the cumulative carbon-emitting effects of the project but concluded that the overall effects would not be negative.” The court also ruled that the setting of annual timber targets was not a discrete final agency action subject to review under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Challenge to the U.S. Forest Service’s alleged failure to account for the aggregate carbon effects of actions taken each year to fulfill annual “timber targets." 

Chattooga Conservancy v. U.S. Department of Agriculture

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Federal Court Rejected Claim that NEPA Reviews for Timber Projects Failed to Adequately Consider Cumulative Carbon Emissions

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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Federal Court Rejected Claim that NEPA Reviews for Timber Projects Failed to Adequately Consider Cumulative Carbon Emissions

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience