Court rules in favor of EPA in County Road 595 lawsuit
GRAND RAPIDS — The Marquette County Road Commission’s goal of creating a 21–mile road between County Road AAA and US–41 in Humboldt Township has hit another roadblock.
According to court documents obtained by ABC 10, Federal Judge Robert Holmes Bell granted the EPA’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the road commission last July.
The commission filed the lawsuit against the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers for failing to act on a construction permit for County Road 595 back in 2013.
On Monday, the road commission filed a motion with the court asking Judge Bell to amend his judgment based on a recent Supreme Court Decision.
“It deals with final agency action by a federal agency, in this case the Army Corps Of Engineers that it dealt with,” said Marquette County Road Commission Engineer Jim Iwanicki.
“That Supreme Court ruling, we believe, is in our favor, so we’ve asked the judge to reconsider his opinion as allowed by law,” he added.
In his ruling, Judge Bell said the county failed to state a claim against the EPA because the EPA’s actions are not reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act— an act which governs how federal authorities develop and issue regulations.
At this point, the Army Corps Of Engineers is in charge of granting the road commission the permit needed to construct County Road 595.