Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005

For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Kim Alton
(202) 662-8600
August 24, 2007

Mississippi Residents Sue Army Corps of Engineers for Decision to Destroy Necessary Wetlands

(Washington, DC) – Today, two coastal Mississippi organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Army Corps of Engineers for its decision to allow dredging and filling of wetlands in hurricane-prone coastal Mississippi at six times the national standard.

The lawsuit comes in response to a Regional General Permit (RGP) issued by the Corps in May 2007 that allows the discharge of dredged and fill materials into wetlands in six Mississippi coastal counties. This region contains many acres of vital wetlands which serve to buffer inland communities from the ravages of hurricanes and inclement weather.  The removal of wetlands at the scale authorized by the RGP will significantly worsen flooding when the next hurricane hits the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“Hurricane Katrina’s destructive power highlighted the important role that wetlands play in storm protection and flood control,” the lawsuit notes.

“Mississippi residents should not continue to face a heightened threat of flooding due to the Army Corps’s reckless issuance of a general permit that would result in substantial damage to wetlands that protect historical and African American communities from destructive floods,” said Barbara R. Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

“The RGP is the Corps’s effort to legitimize its historical failure to enforce existing law. This RGP represents the same recklessness the Corps demonstrated in its maintenance of New Orleans’ levees,” said Derrick Evans, Executive Director of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives and Turkey Creekkeeper.

“After nearly a decade of fighting for the protection of wetlands and personally experiencing the flooding from Katrina, I am saddened that the Army Corps is so willing to allow increased wetlands filling to appease developers,” said Rose Johnson, founder of the North Gulfport Community Land Conservancy, Inc.

The lawsuit, filed by the Turkey Creek Community Initiatives and the North Gulfport Community Land Conservancy, Inc., seeks to have the RGP’s declared invalid and void. Both organizations are represented by the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In many cases, Katrina survivors had to wait months and battle local “NIMBY” opposition before they could even receive FEMA trailers. Now, after finally receiving a trailer, their local governments are acting to displace those most in need of continued assistance.

The Lawyers' Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights legal organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to provide legal services to address racial discrimination.

For more information on the Lawyers' Committee, visit us at www.lawyerscommittee.org



back to Press Releases