ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20140
No(s). C22-1627-KKE (W.D. Wash. Sep 30, 2024) (Evanson, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' nationwide permit authorizing the installation of structures in finfish aquaculture operations. The groups argued the Corps did not comply with its obligations under the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA) or NEPA when it determined the permit would have "no more than minimal individual and adverse effects" or "will not have a significant impact." The court found that because the Corps narrowed its EA to disclose but not account for many foreseeable effects of the permit, its findings of minimal effects and no significant impacts were insufficiently supported and explained, and thus that the permit failed to fully comply with the Corps' procedural obligations under the RHA and NEPA. The groups also argued the Corps exceeded its authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in issuing the permit, but the court disagreed. It prohibited the permitting of new activities under the permit in its current form and ordered the parties to file either a stipulated motion or joint status report proposing a method for final determination of the appropriate remedy.