Friends of Eugene's appeal to LUBA charging that the City of Eugene violated land use laws in granting Hyundai a permit to build in the wetlands was heard on July 9. The Willow Creek site was zoned for "light industry," and the group maintains that Hyundai's heavy use of water and toxic substances clearly meet the definition of heavy industry. The decision is expected on August 27.

Arguments were presented in a suit against Hyundai for violation of the Clean Water Act in federal court in Portland on August 2. Lawyers from the Western Environmental Law Center represented the Sierra Club, Citizens for Public Accountability and the Constitutional Law Foundation in the suit, which was filed following the DEQ's citation of Hyundai for inadequate erosion control at its Willow Creek construction site, a violation of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater Discharge permit. The judge is expected to render a decision later in the month.

A suit filed last December against the Army Corps of Engineers for violation of the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Protection Act in permitting Hyundai to build in the Willow Creek wetlands is expected to be heard in September before the 9th District Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.  The original appeal was denied by Judge Michael Hogan early this year. The litigants, West Eugene Wetlands Friends, Citizens for Public Accountability, the Sierra Club, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center and the Constitutional Law Foundation then appealed to the higher court.