GREENWICH TERMINALS LLC v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 21, 2024
Docket2:23-cv-04283
StatusUnknown

This text of GREENWICH TERMINALS LLC v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS (GREENWICH TERMINALS LLC v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
GREENWICH TERMINALS LLC v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, (E.D. Pa. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

GREENWICH TERMINALS LLC and : CIVIL ACTION GLOUCESTER TERMINALS LLC : : v. : NO. 23-4283 : UNITED STATES ARMY CORP OF : ENGINEERS, et al. :

THE PHILADELPHIA REGIONAL : CIVIL ACTION PORT AUTHORITY : : v. : NO. 24-1008 : UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF : ENGINEERS, et al. :

MEMORANDUM KEARNEY, J. November 21, 2024 Federal judges work to resolve live cases and controversies between parties. We do not typically allow non-parties to closely watch a case to conclusion as a spectator and then jump into the case when they are disappointed with the judgment. But there are exceptions. The Supreme Court almost eighty years ago allowed non-parties to intervene in a case only if they do so timely after learning of potential impact to their rights, can explain their delay in moving to intervene, and demonstrate a lack of prejudice to the parties already before the court. Two non-parties now move to intervene after our judgment last month. We entered judgment after a year of reviewing an extensive administrative record challenging the District Commander for the Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of permits for the development of a port managed and financed by the two non-parties along the Delaware River. The non-parties offer no explanation for their delay other than they wanted to “preserve resources” while also admitting they have hundreds of millions of dollars at issue. The non-parties move to intervene so they can appeal last month’s judgment resolving a case they chose to sit out. The non-parties seemingly want to tout economic benefits of their project although we explicitly recognized those benefits in finding the Corps properly assessed their project’s impact on the economic public interest and found it beneficial.

We deny the non-parties’ motion to intervene as untimely without explanation and prejudicial. I. Background Congress authorized the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project in 1992 with the goal of deepening the Main Channel to forty-five feet.1 This public work allows large cargo vessels to navigate upriver to deliver products to previously inaccessible ports from the Delaware Bay to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Port Authority became a non-federal sponsor of the Deepening Project under a Project Partnership Agreement and agreed to pay a percentage of the costs of construction and maintenance.2

Delaware’s interest in developing a new port since 2016. The Deepening Project inspired Delaware through its corporation Diamond State Port Corporation in 2016 to purchase a site in Edgemoor, Delaware to develop a new port along the Delaware River.3 The State of Delaware signed a 50-year concession agreement in 2018 committing “to invest approximately $400 million to construct the Edgemoor facility.”4 But the Edgemoor site is located at a tight turn where the Delaware River Main Channel comes close to the shoreline. This unique location matters because the large vessels need enough deep water and room to turn around at the Edgemoor site to deliver their cargo before heading back downriver. Diamond State planned to overcome this obstacle by using a forty-five-foot-deep berthing area at Edgemoor plus the Delaware River Main Channel as a turning basin for large vessels delivering products to the Edgemoor port. In other words, Diamond State sought to use the deepened Main Channel as a turnaround location for ships coming to call at Edgemoor, which would halt all traffic in the Main Channel during use. Congress required Diamond State apply to the United States Army Corps of Engineers to

obtain the Corps’ District Commander’s: (1) approval of a dredging and construction permit under section 404 of the Clean Water Act and section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, and (2) authorization for use of a federal project under section 408 of the Rivers and Harbors Act because of the proposed location of the turning basin. Diamond State applied to the Corps in 2020 for a permit under section 10 and section 404 and a section 408 authorization. The Corps reviewed the applications, sought public comment, and recommended approval. Its District Commander issued the permit and the authorization in August 2022. Ports sue to challenge the permits to Diamond State a year ago. Greenwich and Gloucester timely sued in November 2023 under the Administrative

Procedure Act challenging the Corps’ issuance of the section 404/10 permit and section 408 authorization.5 The Philadelphia Port Authority sued approximately four months later joining Greenwich and Gloucester’s challenges.6 The three Plaintiffs plainly establish their challenge to Diamond State’s permit and approvals in the first sentences of both Complaints.7 We held the first pre-trial conference in early 2024.8 We held another conference on pretrial briefing and consolidation several weeks later.9 We created a schedule for the certification of the administrative record and summary judgment briefing. We repeatedly granted the parties additional time to gather the extensive record and present their differing views on our summary judgment review.10 Diamond State did not participate at all. It never asked to be heard notwithstanding the hundreds of millions of dollars it claims it invested in these permits.11 Diamond State admits to following this suit closely. Diamond State “became aware of the Complaint in Civil Action No. 2:23-cv-04283-MAK, a short period after the Army Corps was served on March 20, 2024.”12 It “became aware of the Complaint in Civil Action No. 2:24-cv-1008 MAK, a short period after the

Army Corps was served on November 27, 2023.”13 And Diamond State “has had its outside counsel monitor the dockets for these matters” since then.14 Its partner Enstructure likewise followed the litigation.15 We consolidated the cases for summary judgment briefing on the section 404/10 permit and section 408 authorization by August 2024.16 The Ports and Corps moved and responded.17 The Corps devoted large parts of its briefing to the economic benefits the Port at Edgemoor will bring to Delaware.18 We held oral argument on the cross motions on October 8, 2024, which counsel for Diamond State and its private partner in the Edgemoor Project, Enstructure, attended.19 Diamond State’s and Enstructure’s counsel did not ask to be heard. We vacated the section 404/10 permit and the section 408 authorization a few weeks later.20

We found the Corps did not engage in reasoned decision making as to the section 404/10 permit because it failed to consider the impact of the turning basin and dredging activities on the public interest in navigation and safety.21 We also found the Corps arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its own procedures in recommending the section 408 authorization by not requiring Diamond State obtain a Statement of No Objection from the Philadelphia Port Authority as the sole non- federal sponsor of the Deepening Project.22 We also found the Corps properly considered the economic impacts of the Edgemoor Project.23 We found “Diamond State supplied considerable information about the economic need for and projected impacts of the Edgemoor Project” and noted “[m]any commenters supported the Project for economic reasons including job creation.”24 We (1) considered the benefits of the Edgemoor Project Diamond State and Enstructure advance here, (2) found the Corps had appropriately and thoroughly evaluated the economic impacts of the project, (3) noted the many economic benefits projected to come from the Edgemoor Project, and (4) found the Corps was not

required to assess the ability of the Port at Wilmington to siphon off customers from the Philadelphia ports.25 Our reasoning is supported, not negated, by the economic benefits Diamond State and Enstructure now claim are not being heard.26 II.

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GREENWICH TERMINALS LLC v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greenwich-terminals-llc-v-united-states-army-corps-of-engineers-paed-2024.