Save Upper Echo Lake

The recent decision of the federal district court in Sacramento to deny the Forest Service's motion to dismiss a challenge to the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project as moot was covered on the blog, NEPA Lab + .  It builds on past precedent that the federal government is likely to find problematic, barring agencies from skirting NEPA then declaring projects complete and seeking to moot potential challenges.  For the public, the precedent is an important victory.

By order dated February 1, 2016, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California has denied a second effort by the Forest Service to dismiss the case filed by Dr. Dennis Murphy challenging the legality of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project. The agency sought to dismiss the case as moot after issuing a two-sentence memo withdrawing the Project authorization.  We reported the motion here .  But the Forest Service never conducted adequate environmental review of the Project under the National Environmental Policy Act, and the partially implemented Project has actually increased local fire risk while also causing unanalyzed environmental degradation.