Furey

MEMORANDUM **

Property owners (collectively referred to as “the Fureys”) appeal from summary judgment affirming the Forest Service’s decision to issue a special use permit to the Stanley Sewer Association (“SSA”) for the operation of a wastewater treatment plant on public land in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (“SNRA”) near Stanley, Idaho.

The Fureys’ land adjoins the area over which the SSA plans to sprinkle the final product, the sewage effluent. The Fureys argue that, in reaching its decision and Finding of No Significant Environmental Impact (“FONSI”), the Forest Service (1) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 , by failing to take the required “hard look” at the environmental consequences and by making a final decision before the Environmental Assessment (“EA”) was completed; (2) violated the Act establishing the SNRA (“SNRA Act”), 16 U.S.C. § 460aa, and regulations enacted pursuant to it; and (3) exceeded the 80-acre limitation for land use permits imposed by 16 U.S.C. § 497 .

The Fureys argue that the environmental assessment was conducted in bad faith by outside personnel, and that the FONSI merely ratified a predetermined…