In a challenge to a Clean Water Act permit authorizing the filling of wetlands for construction of a mixed-use development, the federal district court for the District of South Carolina denied the plaintiffs’ motion for consideration of extra-record evidence. One of the documents the plaintiffs sought to submit was a report that they argued would provide missing data to supplement the environmental assessment’s (EA’s) analysis of flooding impacts and impacts from docks. The plaintiffs said the report included explanations of technical information in the EA about “what Base Flood Elevation requires for the site, the flaws in FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps, and how sea level rise will impact stormwater runoff on the site.” The court agreed with the defendants that the EA was “replete with discussion” of the project’s potential flooding impacts and that the extra-record report would not explain information not adequately explained in the record or show that the Corps failed to consider relevant evidence.

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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South Carolina Federal Court Declined to Consider Extra-Record Report on Development’s Flooding Impacts

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South Carolina Federal Court Declined to Consider Extra-Record Report on Development’s Flooding Impacts

Policy instrument

Risk

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience