The federal district court for the District of South Carolina declined to block a developer from proceeding with plans for a multi-use project on a 9,076-acre property in the City of Charleston and Berkeley County. The court found that the plaintiffs did not show a substantial likelihood of success on their claims that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) in connection with its issuance of a Clean Water Act permit for the development and by relying on a biological opinion and incidental take statement prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plaintiffs’ arguments included that there were numerous potential significant effects that would result from the project, including “placement of 45% of housing acreage within the 100-year floodplain while Charleston already struggles with rising seas.” The court said the environmental assessment had provided “considerable discussion” of the project’s impacts on land and surrounding communities and found that the plaintiffs did not show “clear entitlement” to relief on their claim that the failure to prepare an EIS was arbitrary and capricious.

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 Denied Preliminary Injunction in Challenge to Charleston Development

Filed

United States of America

South Carolina

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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

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Electricity generation from devices driven by the movement of salt water, differences in saltwater temperatures, or salinity gradients.

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.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

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

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities that relate to the production of goods and services from forests.

South Carolina Federal Court Denied Preliminary Injunction in Challenge to Charleston Development

Policy instrument

Risk

Just transition

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience