SEVEN ENVIRONMENTAL groups have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) of approving plans for a dam in the Buffalo national river watershed in Arkansas.

The suit seeks to stop construction until the National Park Service can conduct a study of the dam’s potential effects on the 217.2km of river it manages. The dam is proposed on Bear Creek, a tributary of the river that is outside park service jurisdiction.

The suit contends the USACE engineers violated the Buffalo National river enabling act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedures Act, when it issued a permit for the dam.