NEPA Compliance
The cornerstone of our natural resources practice is our expertise in NEPA. We have counseled clients on NEPA matters ranging from brief environmental assessments to complex environmental impact statements. We have found that the experience our attorneys gained while in the federal government has proven invaluable to clients as they proceed with the NEPA process.
Just some of the projects on which we have provided NEPA advice include hazardous liquid pipelines, hydroelectric facilities, coal-fired generators, airport projects, commercial development, highway construction projects and extensive work for cities seeking federal permits for water projects.
Sample representations include:
- Advising the owner of an intermodal transportation facility, where rail lines served an automobile manufacturing facility and truck depot, with respect to the adequacy of NEPA compliance; we successfully represented the facility against a challenge in the Tenth Circuit;
- Representing a major air carrier in monitoring the status of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed runway at one the of nation's largest and busiest airports. Representation includes providing input to the city's aviation department on substantive matters arising under the EIS;
- Successfully defending the United States against a NEPA challenge in the acquisition of a conservation easement; the Fifth Circuit agreed with the United States that the easement did not require compliance with NEPA;
- Successfully representing a state Department of Transportation in a lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the Department's NEPA review of highway construction projects;
- Representing a commercial property developer before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the submission of and ultimate approval of a "FAA FORM C," which requires a NEPA-type analysis of projects at certain airports;
- Successfully defending the Corps of Engineers' decision to proceed with an Environmental Assessment (EA) and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in regards to Virginia Beach's project despite protracted litigation with the state of North Carolina. We also protected Virginia Beach's interests during a protracted NEPA process at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which included preparation and defense of an EIS, ultimately prevailing in the DC Circuit;
- Advising a wireless communications company concerning Federal Communications Commission NEPA requirements and National Historic Preservation Act requirements in placing cell towers on or near historic properties;
- Successfully challenging a decision by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Corps of Engineers to build a dam on a free-flowing river in West Virginia; the Court of Appeals enjoined the project and remanded for further environmental study, holding that agencies' economic analysis impermissibly inflated the project's recreational benefits, and that failure to consider seriously a threat of infestation by invasive species violated NEPA;
- Advising a large real estate developer on compliance with NEPA as it seeks approval from FERC to increase water withdrawals from a hydroelectric reservoir to meet the water needs of a golf course and a housing development;
- Advising a large municipality on compliance with NEPA in regard to the disbursement of Empowerment Zone funds;
- Representing citizens groups in litigation challenging the Corps of Engineers and the Natural Resources Conservation Services compliance with NEPA, including precedent-setting litigation in the Fourth Circuit that enjoined the Corps from constructing a dam in West Virginia because the agency's EIS misrepresented the economic costs and benefits of the project; and
- Representing an interstate refined product pipeline in a successful effort to complete NEPA environmental review of pipeline project, in the face of protracted and well-financed opposition.