Environmental Impact Review
Where Can Dredge Spoil Find a Home? Connecticut Seeks Dismissal of New York Challenge to Designated Ocean Dumping Site.
By Michael S. Bogin and SPR Summer Associate Aaron Aber Connecticut and New York will file final briefs this summer in an ongoing dispute before the Eastern District of New York, regarding the legality of the U.S. EPA’s decision to designate a site in the Long Island Sound for disposal of navigational dredge material. The…
NEPA Review of Pipeline Project Upheld by D.C. Circuit – With Asterisk
On June 4, the D.C. Circuit issued a decision in Birckhead, et al. v. FERC, in which the petitioners challenged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) environmental review of a natural gas pipeline project.[1] Although the court ultimately rejected the challenge, the court suggested in dicta that FERC should do more to obtain information on…
Appellate Division Confirms That Brooklyn Heights Library Redevelopment May Proceed
On May 8, 2019, the Appellate Division, Second Department unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a petition challenging the sale and redevelopment of the Brooklyn Public Library’s (“BPL”) Brooklyn Heights Branch. This ruling clears the way for a proposal by the developer Cadman Associates LLC (an affiliate of The Hudson Companies) to construct a…
Appellate Division Affirms Dismissal of Challenge to the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center Project
In a decision dated April 18, 2019, the Appellate Division, First Department unanimously and emphatically affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing the lawsuit challenging the legality of the American Museum of Natural History’s Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The Gilder Center will, inter alia, expand and modernize the Museum’s educational facilities, create…
NY Supreme Court Dismisses ULURP/SEQR Challenge to American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center Project
In a decision dated December 10, 2018, Hon. Lynn Kotler of the New York Supreme Court, New York County, dismissed in its entirety litigation challenging the legality of the American Museum of Natural History’s Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation for failure to comply with New York City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure…
Federal Court Dismisses NEPA Challenge to Offshore Wind Lease
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently dismissed an Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) litigation filed by the Fisheries Survival Fund and other commercial fishing interests related to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management’s (“BOEM’s”) first lease auction for a wind energy area offshore of New York State. The Plaintiffs alleged that BOEM’s…