Thursday, May 22, 2014

Larry Klein v. US DOE

<> Larry Klein v. US DOE - In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Case No.13-1165. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Marquette. Frontier Renewable Resources sought funding from the Department of Energy to build a plant in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that would convert lumber into ethanol. Larry Klein and the Sierra Club sued to stop the project. The district court rejected the claims because the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring them and because the Department of Energy at any rate permissibly found no significant impact from the proposed plant. We reverse in part and affirm in part. The Appeals Court indicated that Klein had standing to sue, but, "In the final analysis, the Department completed a thorough environmental assessment of the Frontier plant and reasonably described the environmental impacts the assessment identifies as not significant. The National Environmental Policy Act requires no more."