ELR Citation: ELR 20158
No(s). 05-1057 (D. Or. Aug 4, 2006)

A district court grants summary judgment in favor of environmental groups challenging the U.S. Forest Service's record of decision for 49 mining operations in the North Fork Burnt River watershed in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The Forest Service violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) because it authorized the operations without minimizing adverse environmental impacts. The Forest Service also failed to ensure that the plans of operation had CWA §401 certification and could meet state water quality and nondegradation standards. And because the environmental impact statement (EIS) provides sufficient evidence that the mining operations at issue would result in increased sedimentation in waterways, the agency's decision to allow new mining operations on water quality impaired streams was arbitrary, capricious, and inconsistent with the national forest plan in violation of the National Forest Management Act. The Forest Service, however, did not err in analyzing its actions in a single EIS. The court, therefore, grants the Forest Service's motion for summary judgment as to the groups' National Environmental Policy Act claims.