ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20117
No(s). 22-35087 (9th Cir. Oct 19, 2022)

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Forest Service in a challenge to its planned road construction project near Mount St. Helens to address the threat of a nearby lake's potential breach. Environmental groups argued the project violated NEPA and the National Forest Management Act. A district court granted summary judgment for the Service on both claims. The appellate court found that the Service took the requisite "hard look" at direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of the project, and that it did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in issuing a FONSI and determining that an EIS was unnecessary or in making a project-specific amendment to the Gifford Pinchot Forest Plan. It affirmed summary judgment for the Service.