A lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway was dismissed by a federal court March 27 after finding it lacked authority to instruct the Corps to conduct a new, extensive environmental impact study.
The decision could end a four-year-old lawsuit that was filed by coastal Mississippi communities, fishers and recreational businesses contending the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and failed to consider the potential damage to the fishing and tourism industries when repeatedly opening the spillway in the last decade. The plaintiffs requested the Corps produce a supplement environmental report examining the impact of opening the spillway.