Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Administrative Law Blogs -> Within the Scope

Administrative Law

: Within the Scope

Anatomy of a "Hard Look"

By Eric L. Lipman

In an interesting opinion issued last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota enjoined the U.S. Forest Service from further implementing its "Echo Trail Project" in St. Louis and Lake Counties, Minnesota.

The Forest Service had earlier hoped to undertake a variety of forest management activities, over a 10 to 15-year period, in a 203,000-acre zone that borders, but does not include, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

A number of environmental organizations sought to enjoin implementation of the plan, on the grounds that the Forest Service failed to undertake the "hard look" into the environmental impacts of its proposals, as is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Agreeing, U.S. District Court Judge Ann D. Montgomery held that the Forest Service failed to "explain whether the Project will have any direct, indirect, or cumulative impacts on the Project area and how it arrived at its conclusion." Particularly problematic for the agency was the fact that no explanation was provided "as to why there would be no direct or indirect negative impacts to the Boundary Waters despite the anticipation of direct and indirect negative impacts in the [adjacent] Project area."

The Court's complete analysis is accessible here.

Full post as published by Within the Scope on October 03, 2008 (boomark / email).