River Road Alliance, Inc v. Corps of Engineers of United States Army Illinois v. Corps of Engineers of United States Army, 85-785
| Decision Date | 03 March 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-785,No. 85-800,85-785,85-800 |
| Citation | 475 U.S. 1055,89 L.Ed.2d 590,106 S.Ct. 1283 |
| Parties | RIVER ROAD ALLIANCE, INC., et al. v. CORPS OF ENGINEERS OF the UNITED STATES ARMY et al. ILLINOIS v. CORPS OF ENGINEERS OF the UNITED STATES ARMY et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
On petitions for writs of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The petitions for writs of certiorari are denied.
Page 1055-Continued.
In 1980, respondent National Marine Service applied to respondent Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to construct a temporary barge fleeting facility on the Mississippi River. After holding a public hearing on the environmental effects of the proposed facility, the Corps issued a brief "environmental assessment" concluding that the facility would have no significant environmental effects. Based on this conclusion, the Corps determined that it was not required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed project, since such an EIS is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 83 Stat. 853, 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C), only for projects that will "significantly affec[t] . . . the quality of the human environment." Thus, the Corps issued the permit sought.
Petitioners, the State of Illinois and others including River Road Alliance, Inc., brought suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, challenging the issuance of the permit and the Corps' underlying finding of no significant environmental effects. On petitioners' motion for summary judgment, the District Court found that "[w]hile paying lip service to [NEPA], the Corps has failed to take the 'hard look' required to support its conclusions, and has failed to document that 'hard look' in the Environmental Assessment. . . ." App. to Pet. for Cert. in No. 85-800, p. 33. Based on this conclusion, the District Court held that the Corps' action was arbitrary and capricious and entered judgment in favor of petitioners.
On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed. 764 F.2d 445 (1985). While observing that that court had previously held that an agency's decision not to prepare an EIS is reviewed only for an abuse of discretion, see, e.g., Wisconsin v. Weinberger, 745 F.2d 412, 417 (CA7 1984), the Court of Appeals in this case acknowledged that other Courts of Appeals have held that such decisions are reviewed for reasonableness. 764 F.2d, at 449. Having noted these differing...
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