Holy Cross v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

• Decision Date: 04 October 2006
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 03-370.
• Citation: 455 F.Supp.2d 532
• Parties: HOLY CROSS, et al. v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

455 F.Supp.2d 532

HOLY CROSS, et al. v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

Civil Action No. 03-370.

United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana.

October 4, 2006.

Adam Babich, Jill Marie Witkowski, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, New Orleans, LA, Katherine Iannuzzi, Tulane Law School, New Orleans, LA, for Holy Cross, Gulf Restoration Network and Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

Margaret Montgomery Groome, U.S. Attorney's Office, Robert David Northey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Office of Counsel, New Orleans, LA, Jessica O'Donnell, Natalia T. Sorgente, Thomas L. Sansonetti, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Environmental Defense, Section, Washington, DC, for United States Army Corps of Engineers.

ORDER AND REASONS

FALLON, District Judge.

Before the Court are the Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment on Their Second Claim For Relief (Rec.Doc.82), the Defendant's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (Rec.Doc.85), and the Defendant's Motion to Limit Review to the Administrative Record (Rec.Doc.84). The Court heard oral argument and took these motions under submission. Also before the Court is the Defendant's Motion to Set Aside the Court's Order Granting Plaintiffs' Ex Parte Motion for Consideration of Supplemental Authority (Rec.Doc.105). The Court is now ready to rule on all of these motions.

I. BACKGROUND

This litigation arises from the United States Army Corps of Engineers' ("Corps") decision to modernize the lock in the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal, known locally as the Industrial Canal. The Industrial Canal is a five-mile link just east of New Orleans in the navigational system that connects the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet ("MR-GO")¹ with the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain in southeast Louisiana. Navigation traffic passes through the Industrial Canal by means of a lock that was completed in 1923, by the Port of New Orleans. The current lock is 75 feet wide, 640 feet long, and 31.5 feet deep.

In the River and Harbors and Flood Control Act of 1956, Pub.L. No. 84-455, 70 Stat. 65, Congress authorized the Corps to construct the MR-GO and also provided that "when economically justified by obsolescence of the existing industrial canal lock, or by increased traffic, replacement of the existing lock or an additional lock with suitable connections is hereby approved."²

Since the 1960s, the Corps has been contemplating a modernization of the existing lock in the Industrial Canal (the "Project"). Navigational delays were common due to the high volume of traffic compared to the lock's capacity and the effects of three bridges that cross the canal in the vicinity of the lock. The bridges at St. Claude Avenue, Claiborne Avenue, and Florida Avenue carry heavy vehicular traffic and their operation affects the ingress to and egress from the lock. These bridges are closed to navigation during morning and afternoon rush hours because they are major commuter routes into and out of New Orleans for those living on the east side of the canal. Delays mean higher transportation costs for the cargo being shipped through the lock and ultimately higher costs to the general public. In addition to relieving these delays, a deeper and wider canal would allow larger barges and deeper draft vessels to navigate the region and reach various port facilities along the local waterways.

After decades of study, the Corps issued a final Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") in March 1997 that analyzes the environmental and economic impacts of several alternative plans for the Project. The EIS prepared by the Corps in this case consists of nine volumes: Volume 1 contains the evaluation report; Volume 2 contains the community impact mitigation plan; Volumes 3 through 8 contain technical appendices; and Volume 9 contains public views and the Corps' responses.

Specifically, the EIS considers three potential courses of action with respect to the Project: (1) a "no-action" alternative; (2) a "bridge-only" plan; and (3) a "new lock" plan. The "no-action" alternative would involve maintenance and rehabilitation of the existing lock. The "bridge-only" plan would involve construction of a new bridge across the Industrial Canal at St. Claude Avenue that is high enough to allow most vessels to pass through without opening the bridge, thereby improving both vehicular and vessel traffic. The "new lock" plan represents a series of plans to construct a new lock of one of several different sizes within the existing right-of-way of the Industrial Canal at a site north of Claiborne Avenue.

On December 18, 1998, the Corps issued a Record of Decision ("ROD") adopting the "new lock" plan discussed in the EIS and committing to build a new lock that will be 1,200 feet long, 110 feet wide, and 36 feet deep. The Project will involve:

(1) demolition of the Galvez Street wharf, the United States Coast Guard facility, and other businesses along the east bank of the Industrial Canal;

(2) excavation of the east bank for a temporary bypass channel;

(3) dredging the canal bottom and driving piles for the new lock;

(4) disposing of approximately three million cubic yards of dredged sediments and soils into the Mississippi River, at a mitigation site for wetlands creation, at an existing confined disposal area located adjacent to the MR-GO, and/or as backfill during construction of the new lock;

(5) off-site construction of four lock modules that will be floated in and ballasted in place to form the new lock; and

(6) demolition of the existing lock.

The Corps estimates that the Project will cost more than $600 million and take over 10 years to complete.

Concerns regarding the scope and accuracy of the EIS led several citizen groups to formally request a supplemental EIS from the Corps. One such group was the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, which is a non-profit corporation composed of residents of the Holy Cross neighborhood. The Holy Cross neighborhood borders the Industrial Canal lock to the east. Holy Cross is a national historic district, as is the Bywater neighborhood which borders the Industrial Canal lock to the west. Other residential neighborhoods bordering the canal include St. Claude and the Lower Ninth Ward.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Unsatisfied with the Corps' response to its concerns, the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association brought suit on February 6, 2003, seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief to enjoin the Corps from dredging, stirring up, releasing, and disposing of allegedly hazardous waste-contaminated sediments of the canal. The Gulf Restoration Network and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network joined Holy Cross (collectively, "Plaintiffs") in the First Amended and Superseding Complaint. Both organizations are non-profit corporations comprised of various environmental and citizen groups from the Gulf of Mexico region.

The Plaintiffs contend that the Project endangers Lake Pontchartrain and the surrounding environment because dredging the Industrial Canal will release hazardous waste-contaminated sediment into the ecosystem and will require storage and maintenance of the hazardous material which will create other problems. The Plaintiffs argue that the EIS prepared by the Corps is insufficient because it fails to account for significant adverse affects the Project will have on the environment, the economy, and the safety and welfare of the communities surrounding the Industrial Canal, The Plaintiffs do not seek to cancel the Project, but believe that further analysis and planning is required prior to its implementation.

The Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint asserts three causes of action. First, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6992k, the Plaintiffs allege that the Corps has contributed or is contributing to the past or present handling, storing, treatment, transportation, or disposal of solid and hazardous waste which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment. Second, under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-4347, the Plaintiffs claim that the EIS prepared by the Corps is inadequate and that the Court has the authority to compel the Corps to comply with the requirements of NEPA pursuant to the Administrate Procedure. Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. §§ 702, 706. Third, the Plaintiffs claim that the Corps failed to file a supplemental EIS when potential adverse impacts were brought to its attention.

On November 3, 2003, this Court held that the Plaintiffs have standing to bring these claims.. On that date, the Court also denied the Corps' motion to dismiss the Plaintiffs' RCRA claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim.

On August 10, 2004, the Plaintiffs filed a. motion for summary judgment on their RCRA and NEPA claims. However, on August 20, 2004, the Court granted the Corps' motion to stay proceedings and therefore declined to consider the Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment at that time. The Corps sought the stay so that it could conduct further testing and analysis of the canal sediment in an attempt to resolve this litigation. The Court ordered as a condition of the stay that the Corps agree not to commence dredging and/or disposal of canal sediment during the pendency of the stay. The parties subsequently entered into a consent agreement to this effect.

Following several extensions of the stay, including an extension due to Hurricane Katrina, the Corps informed the Court on February 22, 2006 of its intention to proceed with the Project. The Plaintiffs also informed the Court on this date that the Holy Cross neighborhood was likely to be repopulated. Therefore, the Court partially lifted the stay so that the parties could file motions for summary judgment.

Accordingly, on March 22, 2006, the Plaintiffs filed the instant motion for summary judgment on their...