Selected Project Experience
Connect with our team of specialists to address your unique challenges.
First Nations Lawsuit of Rio Tinto – Alcan in Canada
Principal Expert Witness for the First Nations in Canada in their suit of Rio Tinto Alcan seeking mitigation and compensation for damming the Nechako River, a tributary of the Frazer River, for loss of salmon populations. Rio Tinto Alcan is a Canada-based mining company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It is a subsidiary of global mining conglomerate Rio Tinto. Through examination and cross-examination, Ric made the successful argument that reduction in river hydrology/discharge cascades to loss of geomorphic change and the Shifting Habitat Mosaic critical to maintaining salmon reproduction. First Nations won the lawsuit.
Orange County Coastkeeper, Temescal Creek Determination of Waters of the US
NAC and CEI provided expert opinions concerning the hydrological connectivity of Corona Clay Co. industrial stormwater discharges into the Waters of the United States. We were specifically tasked to provide information and initial conclusions supporting a determination that Temescal Creek is considered ephemeral or intermittent. This distinction is relevant to the post-Sackett ruling by the US Supreme Court in determining federal jurisdiction.
Technical Services, Gallatin River Valley, Upper Missouri Water Keepers
NAC and CEI provided the Upper Missouri Waterkeepers with an expert opinion for a lawsuit regarding the placement of septic within fluvial systems adjacent to the Gallatin River. The river is currently listed for excessive nutrients, and although the proposed project is under a minimum discharge standard, that standard does not address the cumulative impacts and effects of the future discharge in context with the numerous such nutrient discharge in the river. CEI provided an expert review of the public record, developed and applied a model of landscape risk of nutrient loading to waterbodies, and wrote an expert report to be submitted as part of a legal action brought by Upper Missouri Waterkeepers against the State of Montana alleging that the State of Montana’s criteria for permitting septic systems are nonprotective of water resources. The model was the first-ever application of the Landscape Assessment of Nutrient Loading to Waterbodies (LANLoad), which CEI developed for use in the State of Florida for permitting septic systems and prioritizing septic-to-sewer conversions.
Technical Services, Manatee County and the City of Gulfport, Florida, Suncoast Waterkeepers
Drs. Kai and Mark Rains designed and implemented field and geospatial data collection to document the occurrence of noncompliant discharges from a wastewater treatment plant in Manatee County and leaking sewers in the City of Gulfport, Florida. The wastewater treatment plant discharged secondary-treated wastewater containing elevated nitrogen directly to Phillippi Creek, which discharged to Sarasota Bay, an estuary of national significance and a member of the National Estuary Program. The leaking sewers discharged untreated wastewater, including enteric bacteria, directly to Boca Ciega, a large bay widely used for recreational boaters, fisherpersons, and swimmers. The discharges were halted by settlement agreements in both cases.
Technical Services and Expert Witnessing, Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition, (2022-2023), Moscow, ID
NAC and MRE were asked to provide expert opinion for a lawsuit by an environmental group attempting to protect remnant prairie in the Palouse near Moscow, ID, from a highway realignment by ID-Department of Transportation. In the realignment right of way, several stream/wetland crossings were eligible for a Nationwide 14 Permit with a limit of 0.50-acre impact. We reviewed the reporting and found inconsistencies. During field visits, we found that a site with 0.48 acres of impact was improperly delineated; upon redelineation, we identified nearly an additional acre of potential impact. Drs. Hough-Snee and Kleindl won court-ordered revisions to permit applications that more accurately mapped wetlands and Waters of the United States along a state highway rapidly developed by the suit’s plaintiff, without sufficient oversight and environmental due diligence. The result was a delay in the project until wetland delineations were reconducted and applied to the US Army Corps of Engineers permit process.
Rapid Wetland Benefits Assessment (RWBA) for States and Tribes
NAC and CEI, through their positions at Montana State University and University of South Florida are developing a programmatic approach for the rapid NAC and CEI are developing a programmatic approach for the rapid assessment of wetland ecosystem services (ES) tools to meet federal, state, and tribal regulatory needs, resulting in the product of a Rapid Wetland Benefits Assessment (RWBA) tool. US Federal policy requiring no overall net loss of wetland functions and values led to several assessment approaches to meet compensatory mitigation requirements for CWA §404 and reporting requirements for CWA §305. Yet there has been little effort to develop rapid value assessment tools. This tool will be a module for existing function or condition assessment tools. Through this project we developed a Quality Assurance Project Plan as required by EPA to ensure that QAQC is managed to their specifications.
