The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s determination that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted an adequate environmental review of a Clean Water Act permit to facilitate cxpansion of a crude oil export terminal at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas. The Corps prepared an environmental assessment for the project and concluded it would not have a significant impact on the environment. The Fifth Circuit held that the Corps did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, or the Administrative Procedure Act. Regarding the plaintiffs’ arguments that the Corps’ consideration of climate change was insufficient, the Fifth Circuit found that the Corps did not act arbitrarily or capriciously by limiting its analysis of climate change impacts to the effect of the dredging and filling activity authorized by the permit. The court noted that the Corps had found that the project would result in “a negligible release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere” from impacts to aquatic resources and from operation of construction equipment. The Fifth Circuit said the Corps’ discussion “easily” met the Fifth Circuit’s standard for agency obligations to consider climate change under NEPA. The court declined to adopt any requirement adopted by other courts requiring consideration of downstream impacts such as “emissions from the end-use of petroleum products that may be exported from the expanded Terminal.” The Fifth Circuit further noted, in any event, that the plaintiffs had forfeited arguments related to impacts resulting from increased vessel traffic.

Challenge to Clean Water Act permit for expansion of crude oil export terminal in Texas.

Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Fifth Circuit Said Corps of Engineers Consideration of Climate in Crude Oil Terminal Permit Review “Easily” Met NEPA Requirements

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Fifth Circuit Said Corps of Engineers Consideration of Climate in Crude Oil Terminal Permit Review “Easily” Met NEPA Requirements

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance