Description: Challenge to federal agency actions that would facilitate development of a high-voltage transmission line from Dubuque County, Iowa, to Middleton, Wisconsin, passing through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
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National Wildlife Refuge Association v. Rural Utilities Service
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/25/2024 Order Download Land transfer enjoined to allow production and review of administrative record. Wisconsin Federal Court Temporarily Blocked Construction of Transmission Line Through Wildlife Refuge. The court preliminarily enjoined the federal defendants and developers from taking action to close an agreement to exchange 19.84 acres of land within the refuge for 35.69 acres of land held by two of the developers. The injunction also barred commencement of construction on the line through the refuge until the court had an opportunity to consider the administrative record underlying the agencies’ February 2024 decisions. The court stated that “[t]here are a number of problems with the [developers] being allowed to proceed. Most fundamentally, federal defendants and [the developers] have orchestrated the events here to preclude judicial review of the final determination until after substantial damage has already been done to what until now was the Refuge. Whatever the merits of plaintiffs’ challenge to the federal defendants’ decision to proceed with the land exchange under the relevant statutes, some meaningful review by this court is necessary to determine ‘whether that decision is supported by substantial evidence.’” 03/20/2024 Opposition Download Opposition to preliminary injunction motion filed by owners of a portion of the transmission line project. 03/13/2024 Motion Download Brief filed in support of plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction. 03/06/2024 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Western District of Wisconsin challenging federal agency actions that facilitate development of a high-voltage transmission line from Dubuque County, Iowa, to Middleton, Wisconsin, passing through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The plaintiffs asserted violations of NEPA, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. The plaintiffs previously challenged approvals for the project. The district court granted a preliminary injunction, but the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the case did not present a reviewable final agency decision. In the new lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the agencies had made final agency decisions in February 2024 when they issued a final EIS and record of decision and supplemental environmental assessment. The complaint alleged that these documents violated NEPA, including by failing to take a hard look at climate change impacts even though the federal defendants and the transmission line developers acknowledged the line would carry electricity from fossil fuel power plants.