Sierra Club v. Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Management

In 1993, the Wachusett Mountain Associates (WMA) proposed an expansion of the Wachusett Mountain State Reservation’s ski area (the project), a forest ski area managed by the Department of Environmental Management (the department). The project required an environmental-impact report (EIR) under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). During the project’s MEPA review, an old-growth forest subject to the department’s old-growth policy was discovered. To avoid encroaching on the old-growth forest, the project area was moved to the only remaining area outside the existing ski slopes that was capable of accommodating the project’s specifications. In April 1999, the WMA’s Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Report (SFEIR) was approved. The SFEIR included an analysis of the project’s purpose, including accommodating changing skier demographics and skiing methods, and a description of the safety enhancements and additional space the project would provide. Additionally, the SFEIR assessed the project’s impact on wildlife, vegetation, and the old-growth forest as well as mitigation measures to reduce the project’s impact. In August 1999, the commissioner of environmental management (defendant) certified findings based on the SFEIR pursuant to the MEPA. The Sierra Club (plaintiff) subsequently challenged the SFEIR’s approval and the commissioner’s findings in the superior court. The superior court found that the SFEIR’s failure to include an analysis of need for the project violated the MEPA. Additionally, the court found that the SFEIR had failed to address reasonable project alternatives, including not completing the project (the no-build option), and that the MEPA review had failed to sufficiently analyze the project’s environmental impact. The commissioner appealed the superior court’s ruling.