The State : Ban on Ski Resort Lifted

A federal appeals court has lifted the ban on construction of a $100-million ski and golf resort at Squaw Valley. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers acted properly in limiting its environmental review of the project to 11 acres of federally protected wetlands. Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Joseph Sneed said courts should defer to the corps’ own regulations on projects that touch federal and non-federal land. Those regulations tell the corps to review an entire project only when the federal portion--here, the wetlands--is a link in a chain that holds the project together, Sneed said. But the court left the door open for further challenges, and environmental groups said they would seek a new ban.