"A federal appeals court today rejected nearly all the claims environmentalists had made against an Army Corps of Engineers decision to issue a permit for a major development in Florida wetlands."

"Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the corps must do further research on whether construction of the Cypress Creek Town Center near Tampa would damage habitat of the indigo snake, environmentalists lost on all the other issues in the case.

The court, in an opinion written by Senior Judge Stephen Williams, rejected contentions that the corps had violated the Clean Water Act by failing to take into account declining property values at the time it re-evaluated its original permit in 2009 and by accepting the developer's suggestions for the number of required parking spaces."

Lawrence Hurley reports for Greenwire November 29, 2011. [2]