In what could be a precedent-setting move, enviros are suing the U.S. Small Business Administration for aggravating sprawl in the Washington, D.C., area. The Forest Conservation Council and Friends of the Earth say that at least 30 percent of SBA loans in the region over the past three years have financed new construction, much of it in outlying suburbs. Their lawsuit, which seeks immediate suspension of local loan decisions by the SBA, contends that the agency is wrongly using federal money to promote sprawl and that it is violating the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to assess how its decisions affect the environment.
