River Road Alliance, Inc. v. Corps of Engineers of United States Army

National Marine Service (NMS) applied to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (corps) (defendant) for a permit to operate a barge-fleeting facility, effectively a maritime parking lot, on a 1,500-foot stretch of the Mississippi River in Illinois. NMS stated that the fleeting facility would only be required until a downstream river lock was replaced as planned. The proposed fleeting facility would be located on a scenic stretch of the Mississippi River, but one that also already had regular, heavy barge traffic and an existing shipyard located half a mile upstream from the proposed fleeting facility. The corps held a public hearing on the potential environmental impact of the proposed facility, including aesthetic impacts, and reviewed hundreds of written comments. After evaluating all relevant environmental factors, the corps prepared an environmental assessment stating that NMS’s proposed fleeting facility would not significantly impact the environment. Based on that determination, the corps issued the requested permit. After the fleeting facility began operations, River Road Alliance, Inc. (River Road), a neighborhood group, sued for an injunction primarily based on aesthetic concerns. The district granted the injunction, holding that the corps had violated the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) by failing to prepare an environmental-impact statement (EIS) before issuing NMS’s permit. The corps appealed, arguing that an EIS was unnecessary because the environmental assessment had found that the fleeting facility would not have a significant environmental impact.