LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) -Home builders and environmental groups are eyeing two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that could have a possible impact on construction, timelines and federally-required environmental reviews or studies.
The cases are San Francisco v. EPA and Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colo. The cases could determine the scope of mandates from federal agencies, and the scope of a federal environmental review or study to analyze the impact of a construction project.
FOX5 has reported on the extensive housing shortage across the Las Vegas Valley, with a shortage of affordable housing units. Much of the crisis, according to developers, housing experts and local leaders, is caused by the shortage of land; much of the land across Nevada is owned by the Bureau of Land Management.
Construction insiders across the Las Vegas Valley also tell FOX5, environmental reviews do take time and planning: in rural or undeveloped areas, developers on private land may still need federal oversight when projects encroach on the habitat of federally-protected endangered species like the endangered Desert Tortoise. Some reviews take months; others could take years, insiders tell FOX5.
The federal Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan requires local jurisdictions like Clark County to manage and plan for environmental impacts to wildlife and endangered species.
The Center for Biological Diversity explains the importance of federal oversight to manage the environment, our wildlife—and even our drinking water.
The National Environmental Policy Act is a bedrock environmental law that protects the public’s interest: our interest in having clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. The purpose of the law is to look at all the potential environmental harms that could come from whatever it is that’s being proposed.
[The desert tortoise] is a species that’s on the brink, and if we let developers run over the land the species uses to survive, that’s unacceptable,” said Deeda Seed of The Center for Biological Diversity.
In the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colo. Case, the Center for Biological Diversity has been advocating for federal regulators to review the “downstream” impact of a rail line all along the Colorado River—which impacts drinking water for tens of millions of people across the Southwest and Southern Nevada.
The National Association of Home Builders weighed in on the case to FOX5:
“Both of these cases have the potential to add uncertainty to the development process. And uncertainty translates to added time and money.
In San Francisco v. EPA, the EPA had included unclear terms into the San Francisco permit. NAHB explained to the Court that permit terms do not need to be “numeric,” but they need to be clear enough that the permittee knows what to do to comply with the requirements.
In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colo. , NAHB was concerned that the NEPA analysis required by the lower court has no boundaries, which means there is no clear stopping point.”
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