RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

November 2007

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District Court Finds Army Corps of Engineers’ Recent Mississippi Levee Project Failed to Comply with Clean Water Act
Environmental Defense v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ___F.Supp.2d___

On a challenge to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) St. Johns Bayou-New Madrid Floodway Project, the District Court for the District of Columbia found the Corps had arbitrarily and capriciously manipulated data models and changed regulatory definitions to make the project seem compliant with the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The District Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, enjoining further construction work on the project and requiring the Corps to restore the disturbances created by the preliminary work already completed.