Mississippi shouldn’t be ‘a dumping ground’: Why AG wants to sue Army Corps of Engineers
Attorney General Jim Hood plans to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in federal court over the prolonged opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway and the damage it caused in the Mississippi Sound.
Hood has notified the Corps that the state will be filing suit in 60 days, a requirement for filing. He said Coast cities and counties might join the state as plaintiffs.
The Corps opened the Bonnet Carré for a record 143 days this year to relieve Mississippi River flooding, sending trillions of gallons of river water into Lake Pontchartrain and the Sound beyond.
Oyster beds were decimated. Dolphin and sea turtle deaths soared. Brown shrimp disappeared.
“It’s crystal clear liability,” Hood said. “Mississippi doesn’t need to be a dumping ground. . . . It’s just about put our seafood industry out of business.”
Hood said he has three goals for the lawsuit:
▪ Compensation for environmental and economic damages.
▪ Damages that will pay to replenish decimated oyster reefs and other marine habitat.
▪ A mandate that the Corps complete an environmental study on the impacts to the Mississippi Sound.
The Corps enjoys broad legal immunity over the Bonnet Carré, but Hood said he does not believe it will apply in this case.
His office plans to work with private law firms, including Balch & Bingham, on the lawsuit.
“It will take a bunch of lawyers,” he said. “I mean, it will take a fleet of them to fight the federal government.”
Hood said his news conference in Biloxi and the lawsuit have nothing to do with his tight race for governor against Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, which will be decided Nov. 5.
“I’ve still got a job to do,” he said. “I’m going to do my job until I walk out of office.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 1:37 PM.
