Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance v. United States Army Corps of Engineers

Puget Sound Energy (“PSE”) maintains and operates a hydroelectric power plant at the 268-foot-high Snoqualmie Falls in the state of Washington. The Snoqualmie River drains a large watershed above the falls, and all of the water from this area must pass through a single narrow channel before it reaches the falls, creating a bottleneck during heavy rains. This subjects the City of Snoqualmie, located just upstream of the falls, to persistent and significant flooding.

In the process of upgrading and modifying the plant, PSE plans to lower the dam located in the channel above the falls in order to mitigate these upstream flooding problems. PSE has already obtained a license for the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). Because the upgrade involves discharging fill material into the waters of the United States, which is prohibited under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) without a permit, PSE sought verification from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) that it could proceed under a series of general nationwide permits (“NWPs”) authorizing certain discharges, rather than applying to the Corps for an individual permit. The Corps verified that it could.…