ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20148
No(s). 18-cv-03258-CMA (D. Colo. Oct 16, 2024) (Arguello, J.)

A district court held that the Army Corps of Engineers violated the CWA and NEPA by issuing a dredge-and-fill permit to a municipal water utility to allow a dam expansion project in Denver. Environmental groups argued the Corps violated the CWA by excluding alternatives as impracticable based on an erroneous interpretation of EPA's §404(b)(1) guidelines, that it violated NEPA by considering effectively indistinguishable alternatives and failing to quantify climate change impact on precipitation, and that FWS violated the ESA by extending but later withdrawing interim protections for the green lineage cutthroat trout despite promising to maintain them until it completed its established peer-review process. The court found that the Corps' "idiosyncratic" interpretation of the §404(b)(1) guidelines was unlawful, and that its narrow alternatives analysis and refusal to provide an estimate on future hydrology violated NEPA, but that FWS adequately justified its decision to withdraw interim protections. It deferred a ruling on remedies until further briefing.