River Road Alliance, Inc. v. Corps of Engineers of the United States Army
Headline: Court denies review of Army Corps’ permit for a temporary barge facility, leaving the Corps’ no‑EIS finding and the appeals court’s reversal intact while a Justice dissents seeking clarity on review standards.
Holding:
- Leaves the Corps’ permit and appeals-court reversal in place, allowing the project to proceed.
- Keeps unresolved Circuit conflict over how courts review agency no-EIS decisions.
- Means future NEPA challenges may get different results depending on the federal circuit.
Summary
Background
In 1980 a private operator applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to build a temporary barge‑fleeting facility on the Mississippi River. The Corps held a public hearing and issued a brief environmental assessment concluding the project would not have significant environmental effects. Because the Corps found no significant effects, it decided an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was not required, and it issued the permit. The State of Illinois and local groups sued, and the district court sided with them.
Reasoning
The core dispute was whether the Corps properly concluded that no EIS was necessary and whether the Corps had taken the required “hard look” at environmental effects. The district court ruled the Corps’ action arbitrary and capricious for failing to document that hard look. The Seventh Circuit reversed, declining to substitute its judgment for the Corps’ and noting that different federal appeals courts use different review standards for no‑EIS decisions. The Supreme Court denied review of those appeals, so it did not resolve the differing standards.
Real world impact
Because certiorari was denied, the appeals‑court reversal stands and the Corps’ permit and its assessment remain in effect for this project. The larger disagreement among circuits about how strictly courts should review agency no‑EIS decisions remains unresolved, so similar NEPA disputes may continue to be decided differently in different federal circuits.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice White dissented from the denial of review, arguing the circuit conflict over the applicable review standard is significant, recurs regularly, and warrants this Court’s attention.
Opinions in this case:
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