Federal Court Gives Delaware River Dredging Go-ahead
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has ruled in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which has begun to dredge the 102-mile channel but whose work was threatened by a lawsuit from the State of New Jersey and five environmental groups which sought to block the project on the grounds that it would cause ecological and economic harm to wildlife and wetlands. The plaintiffs argued that the Army Corps had failed to do a thorough environmental assessment of the project as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and had violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). But the court upheld earlier rulings by district courts in Delaware and New Jersey that the Army Corps had not violated its duty under the federal laws.
Stolt-Nielsen Appeal Fails in Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter on July 25 rejected an emergency appeal from Stolt-Nielsen SA to freeze the Justice Department's pursuit of antitrust charges against it. Stolt-Nielsen has challenged the power of government prosecutors to revoke an amnesty agreement shielding it from prosecution over an alleged plot to divvy up customers in the parcel shipping business, which involves the transport of bulk liquids such as chemicals. The company's emergency petition asked the U.S. Supreme Court to bar lower court proceedings against it and a U.S.-based executive, Richard Wingfield, while a separate appeal to the Supreme Court on underlying legal issues was pending. Souter, acting for the court, turned away that request.
