Facts
On May 8, 1991, the Grand Council of the Canton of St. Gallen approved the project for the bypass road Wagen-Eschenbach-Schmerikon (T8/A8). The project envisaged a approximately 9 km long two-lane bypass road that was to connect the southern connection of the northern bypass Rapperswil/Jona with the northern motorway connection of the feeder road Schmerikon. For the realization of the project, deforestation of a total of 5.5 hectares of forest was required.
The Federal Office for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (BUWAL) as the competent deforestation authority repeatedly commented on the project and rejected the granting of the deforestation permit, as the interests of nature and landscape protection were not sufficiently taken into account. The Government Council of the Canton of St. Gallen nevertheless approved the project as environmentally compatible and granted the plan approval.
The Traffic Club of Switzerland (VCS), the WWF Switzerland Foundation and the Swiss League for Nature Conservation (SBN) filed an administrative court appeal against these decisions with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that according to Article 12 of the Federal Act on Forests (WaG), the allocation of forest to a use zone requires a deforestation permit. However, the BUWAL as the competent deforestation authority had rejected the granting of the deforestation permit.
In such a case, the cantonal authority responsible in the environmental impact assessment procedure must…