Judge won't toss permits for project with faulty NEPA review

摘要

A federal judge said yesterday that he would not reconsider his decision to allow an existing Virginia transmission project to retain its permits even after a higher court tossed out the underlying environmental analysis. Senior Judge Royce Lamberth for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit said he stood by his decision that scrapping federal permits for the transmission line located near historic sites along the James River could lead to the dismantlement of the project, creating adverse impacts for regional electricity supply. He was not swayed by the National Parks Conservation Association's request for reconsideration, which called for the permits to be pulled and said the group would not push for the already built Dominion Virginia Power project to be taken down before the Army Corps of Engineers completes its National Environmental Policy Act analysis. "NPCA had the opportunity to clearly state that it would not seek removal of the towers, and it chose not to do so," Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, wrote in his order yesterday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Army Corps' NEPA review for the project was inadequate and sent the case back to Lamberth to determine next steps.