In the latest chapter in a decadeslong environmental fight, a judge has rejected a lawsuit alleging that the state has operated North Florida’s Rodman dam without a required federal permit.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger is rooted in the construction of the dam and the Rodman Reservoir as part of the Cross Florida Barge Canal project, which was halted by the federal government in 1971. The project, which was originally planned to create a barge canal from Northeast Florida to Yankeetown on the Gulf Coast, dammed the Ocklawaha River.