Rhett DeHart Successfully Represents Developers in Federal Environmental Impact Dispute

The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit attempting to block a 9,000-unit housing plan in the Charleston area.

Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Rhett DeHart represented the developers in the case, which was brought in 2022 by environmental groups. In the decision, the Court ruled that federal officials properly considered the environmental impact of the development in approving it.

Judge Richard Gergel cited the Army Corps' thorough 221-page environmental assessment, which included an evaluation of the project's effects on the newly endangered northern long-eared bat, as evidence of the federal authorities' diligence in granting a permit. Judge Gergel highlighted that the development would impact 181 acres of wetlands within the 9,076-acre project but includes a mitigation plan to protect 13 acres of wetlands for every acre disturbed.

He noted, “Federal defendants present a plethora of evidence that they carefully considered and weighed the impacts of the Cainhoy Project and concluded that, in light of mitigation measures undertaken by defendant-intervenors, the project would not have a significant environmental impact on the surrounding human environment.”

Click here to read full coverage of the decision in Law360 (subscription required).