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Water Log 27.4, February, 2008

Interesting Items

Around the Gulf . . .

Hurricane Katrina wiped out over 300 homes on Dauphin Island's west end. Now, the future of the 3.5 miles of eroded beach is in question. Last March, the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association voted to turn the private beach into public land. The association's hope was that if the land were converted to a public beach managed by the town, it would be eligible for public restoration funding. However, two property owners filed suit opposing the action. In November, Mobile County Circuit Judge Charles Graddick issued a continuance in the case pending the release of a report in a federal lawsuit. The report concerns the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredging practices in the Mobile Bay Ship Channel. The property owners who filed the suit believe the study will show that the beach has begun to rebuild and there is no reason to turn it over to the public.

The Mississippi Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association filed suit against the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources on January 25 to prevent the enforcement of new speckled trout recreational catch limits scheduled to go into effect in February. In December 2007, the Commission on Marine Resources, by a 3 - 1 vote, passed a 13-inch catch limit for the state's coastal waters. CCA alleges that the Commission ignored the recommendations of DMR scientists when establishing the limit in violation of state law.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaws recently lost its bid to open a casino on the Mississippi coast in Jackson County. The Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of Interior recently quashed the plans of eleven tribes to open off-reservation casinos ruling that the requested sites were too far from the reservations. With respect to the Choctaw's request, the BIA stated that the tribe failed to show how the casino was necessary for tribal self-determination, economic development, or housing. The tribes can appeal the decision to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals or federal court.

On January 30, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval reluctantly dismissed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for levee breaches following Hurricane Katrina. Judge Duval ruled that the Flood Control Act of 1928 protects the federal government from lawsuits over damages caused by flood control projects. Approximately 489,000 claims by Louisiana businesses, governments, and property owners were associated with this lawsuit and it is unclear which, if any, can move forward. The decision is likely to be appealed to the Fifth Circuit.

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