Save Our Wetlands Sues Terrebonne Levee District to Stop Morganza Levee Construction

Save Our Wetlands Sues Terrebonne Levee District to Stop Morganza Levee Construction

Morganza-to-the-Gulf needs permit, it says

May 01, 2008
By Mark Schleifstein
Source: http://www.nola.com/

The Save Our Wetlands environmental group has filed suit against the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District over its construction of the first section of the new Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of the 2000-member group, asks that further work be blocked with an injunction and that fines of more than $24 million be levied against the levee district.

The lawsuit argues that the levee district should be required under the Clean Water Act to obtain a permit, which would allow it to fill in wetlands in the least environmentally damaging way and mitigate for any damage.

Luke Fontana, executive counsel for Save Our Wetlands, said the environmental group is one of several critics concerned that construction of the entire levee project threatens more than 166,000 acres of wetlands, much of which would end up behind the levees.

The result will be new residential development that eventually will be destroyed by hurricanes, just as Eden Isles was built in wetlands only to be destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, he said.

"The Landrieus, Vitters and Jindals are screaming on behalf of the levee district and developers under the guise of hurricane protection," he said.

Though it believes the levee project meets environmental regulations, the corps is re-evaluating the potential affects of the levee's path. Two different alignments are being reviewed by the corps as part of a revised Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, Poche said.

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Environmental Group Sues to Halt Morganza Levee Work

May 1, 2008
Staff Writer
Nikki Buskey
Source: http://www.houmatoday.com

HOUMA -- An environmental group has filed a $24 million lawsuit against the Terrebonne levee district, claiming parts of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system now under construction in Pointe-aux-Chenes violate the federal Clean Water Act.

Save Our Wetlands, a 2000-member group based in Metairie, alleges that work on the three-mile section known as J-1 began without a permit required to dredge soil and fill in areas of sensitive wetlands.

Applying for the permit would have given the public the opportunity to comment on the work as well as required the district to rebuild wetlands to make up for damage done by the levee, the lawsuit contends.

The group, represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

Morganza is a 72-mile system of levees, floodgates and a lock on the Houma Navigation Canal.

Frustrated by the slow pace of securing federal authorization for the entire Morganza project, the levee district began building portions of the levee itself, including J-1, which linked a gap between existing levees in the Pointe-aux-Chenes area.

But the decision to go ahead with construction in Pointe-aux-Chenes even as Morganza has been subject to a reassessment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a review by a panel of state-appointed scientists and the mandate that it must be reauthorized yet again in Congress is part of what provoked the suit, attorneys say.

"The Terrebonne levee district has gone full steam ahead without coordinating with the rest of Morganza," said Jill Witkowski, supervising attorney on the case with the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. "We’d like to make sure that they get the permit before they do any more construction."

If the levee district is found to be in violation of the Clean Water Act, it will be required to pay up to $32,500 for each day of operating without the permit. That adds up to about $24.4 million in permit-violation fees since work began on the levee in March 2006, according to the suit.

"I know people are going to be afraid that this is about environmentalists trying to put the environment ahead of protecting people," Witkowski said. "But this is about following the rule of law."

Save Our Wetlands is also requesting that the levee district be required to stop work on that section of Morganza until the necessary permit is acquired and pay the group’s resulting attorney’s fees.

The levee district had been notified of a possible lawsuit last June by Save Our Wetlands Executive Attorney Luke Fontana.

Citing a letter sent to then Gov. Kathleen Blanco from a group of scientists criticizing the project, Luke Fontana has said Morganza "will not only destroy wetlands, acting as a hurricane tidal-surge buffer," but it will also "promote development into low-lying areas extremely susceptible to hurricane tidal surges."

Luke Fontana said he’s been working to protect wetlands since 1974 and over the years has filed many lawsuits to stop projects he believes will destroy wetlands and promote development on vulnerable floodplains like Morganza-to-the-Gulf.

"Nothing has changed," he said. "They build these projects that destroy wetlands, and it makes a lot of money for the dredger and the developers along the way."

He claims that changing the Morganza levee’s alignment could save more than 160,000 acres of wetlands. Under Morganza’s current path, Luke Fontana contends, much of those wetlands could end up behind the levees and later developed into subdivisions that could be destroyed by storms, similar to when levees failed in the New Orleans area during Hurricane Katrina.

Earlier this week, the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority announced it has appointed a panel of scientists and engineers to study Morganza, including its impact on wetlands.

"I don’t trust the state panel. The coastal board is influenced by America’s Wetland, and America’s Wetland is (sponsored by) Shell Oil," Luke Fontana said Wednesday. "I don’t trust the state of Louisiana. They need to divest themselves from America’s Wetland. The people of Louisiana need to be aware of that."

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Apr. 29, 2008 - SOWL vs. Terrebonne Levee & Conservation District (Complaint) -The Levee District is building Reach J1 of the Mississippi River and Tributaries-Morganza, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Protection Project without first obtaining a Clean Water Act dredge and fill permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers... (Civil Suit Cover Sheet), (Introduction of Student Practitioner), (Student Practitioner/Deans Certification)

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True Voice of the Wetlands

Save Our Wetlands Sues Terrebonne Levee District to Stop Morganza Levee Construction

Morganza-to-the-Gulf needs permit, it says

Environmental Group Sues to Halt Morganza Levee Work