Schaefer
California Trout v. Schaefer
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Thompson, J.
California Trout (CalTrout), a nonprofit environmental organization, challenges the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ (the Corps) decision to approve an application by the Stockton East Water District (SEWD) for a permit under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1344 . SEWD sought a permit to discharge fill material into wetlands under the jurisdiction of the United States in conjunction with SEWD’s construction of a larger project to divert water from the Stanislaus River in California’s Central Valley.
CalTrout contends the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4331 , et seq., and the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § Í344, by, inter alia, excluding from the scope of its permit review the entire project’s environmental effects on fisheries downstream in the Stanislaus River. The district court granted the Corps’s and SEWD’s motions for summary judgment, and this appeal by CalTrout followed. We affirm.
FACTS
SEWD has constructed a 41-mile long project to divert water from the Stanislaus River in the northern portion of California’s Central Valley to SEWD’s water treatment plant east of Stockton, California.