Secretary of State Dilbert Hosemann issued the following statement.
Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, in his official capacity as trustee of the Public Trust Lands, filed suit today against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) on behalf of the citizens on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and all people in Mississippi, alleging an illegal release of water into the Mississippi Sound from the repeated opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
"As State Land Commissioner and trustee of the Public Trust Lands, it is my duty to protect Mississippi's land, its water and its resources," stated Secretary Delbert Hosemann. "The infiltration of freshwater into the Mississippi Sound as a result of solely opening the Bonnet Carré caused devastating effects across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In addition, this lawsuit does not address the monetary loss to the State and the Coast. This could be addressed in future litigation.”
The allegations in the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, stem from the unprecedented ecological and economic devastation upon the Mississippi Sound as a result of the diversion of freshwater from the Mississippi River into the Sound from the repeated opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway this year.
The lawsuit specifically addresses the request for a temporary injunction to order the Corps to operate the Bonnet Carré Spillway in conjunction with the Morganza Spillway and to mitigate damage to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The lawsuit further alleges such action was taken without the benefit of an up-to-date Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), giving no consideration of the environmental impact to the Mississippi Sound and Mississippi’s Public Trust Tidelands. As part of the relief sought, the State has asked the Court to compel the Defendants to perform a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement as well as to utilize the Morganza Spillway to mitigate the freshwater inundation of the Mississippi Sound in the future.
In July, Secretary Hosemann asked the Corps and the MRC 1) to conduct an immediate study of the operating manuals and procedures for both the Morganza Floodway and the Bonnet Carré Spillway and 2) to include as part of the study, the ecological effects and economic impacts of freshwater intrusion into the Mississippi Sound as a result of the current operating procedures. In August, Secretary Hosemann requested additional modeling of the opening of the Morganza Floodway in varying amounts and later in the month testified before the Mississippi River Commission on the annual low-water inspection trip in Vicksburg where he reiterated all of these requests. Additionally, Secretary Hosemann, alongside the Department of Marine Resources, requested an Environmental Impact Study.
The Bonnet Carré Spillway has been opened five (5) times since 2011 and was opened twice this year for a total of 123 days, while the Morganza Floodway has been opened twice – in 1973 and 2011. The freshwater intrusion into the Mississippi Sound from the Bonnet Carré Spillway openings negatively impacted our oyster, shrimp, blue crab, and finfish harvests and caused devastating losses to commercial fisherman, charter boat operators, and the tourism industry.
###
Pursuant to state law, Public Trust Tidelands and submerged lands are lands lying under waters naturally subject to tidal influence. The inland boundary is the line of mean high tide and the seaward boundary is the State boundary, three (3) miles south of the barrier islands. Public Trust Tidelands are owned by the State in trust and the Secretary of State serves as the trustee of this public trust. For more information, visit https://www.sos.ms.gov/Public-Lands/Pages/Public-Trust-Tidelands.aspx.
Monday, December 30, 2019
SOS Sues Feds Over Bonnet Carre Spillway
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
26 comments:
What The Hell! This guy is going out with a bang. He oughta be concentrating on his new job (which I'm sure he thinks he's already expert at) instead or suing federal agencies and paying for autism announcements two days before his current job expires. Is this guy an ego-maniac or what!!
Didn't he sue the feds for flooding 16th section land around Woodville, MS less than a year ago? What became of that piss in the wind? Wind him up and he never shuts up.
Good work. His job didn't quit the day he won the new position.
Yes let's sue the government that you all work so hard to prevent from addressing the root cause of so much flooding. Which is Climate Change. So dumb.
4:13 - However, it's nonsense for him to sue, his last day on the job and leave it for somebody else.
Sounds like a way to funnel some money to campaign contributors.
Maybe not 4:13, but, it's not his job to load up the incoming Secretary of State with work that Dilburt thinks he needs to undertake. He ought to concentrate on his own damned job. This indicates a psychological problem. Ask any shrink.
No 3:39, he's been a great SOS and is a breath of fresh air in taking over the Senate from Tate. He and Gunn will get things accomplished for all of MS, with or without Tate.
Good!
You can not sue one overnight. As I said before good work.
Methinks critics of suit don’t reside on the coast or practice law.
Well done. It's about time somebody takes the initiative and stands up for Mississippi. I'm not sure what the first poster's problem is but it sounds more like a personal dislike rather than what the story was really about.
You're probably right, 12:33, everybody who practices law loves a good lawsuit.
I'm not particularly criticizing a lawsuit, or THIS lawsuit. I'm critical of his last-minute-in-office shenanigans to garner attention. He goes on Gallo, sues the feds and announces the activities of his Autism Foundation his last two weeks in office.
It would be like Feel Brant naming a new DPS Commissioner this afternoon (December 31) when he should have done it over a year ago, and somebody has to come along and undo it.
Dernbert: “See, I did what you damn shrimpers and oyster people wanted, I sued the bastards.”
Watson, after the suit is tossed: “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
Donebert, to shrimpers after suit is tossed: “I can’t help it if the new guy didn’t handle the case properly. I set it up perfectly for him and he dropped the ball.”
Transparent political theatre.
Good job Delbert. Thank you for standing up for Mississippi. The federal government needs to have their collective noses rubbed in it and stop using Mississippi for a whipping boy. The civil war, slavery and etc. we’re over a long time ago. Get over your leftist liberal selves.
A suggestion to those of you who hate everything about Mississippi, move to Chicago, Detroit , LA or any of those other liberal paradises and see how you like it there.
Can someone explain to those of us who don't live near the river or on the coast how all of this is supposed to work? Seems to me that if we don't let water out that the areas around the river will flood, but if we let water out the fresh water hurts the sound. Is there a fine line that can be walked?
For all you posters that are trying to figure out why Dilbert is filing this lawsuit as he walks out of the office; and for all of you defending Gilbert for his diligence in 'taking care of business' - lets make this simple.
Delbert has stated numerous times since the election that now he is "in charge of running the state". (Guess he forgot about those 52 Senators, and those pesky 122 House members, but that's for next month's popcorn servings).
Filing this suit gives him the ability to stay involved in the Ladner Building activities while he moves into the LG office across the street.
His ego won't let him let go of the job, and while he will try to interject himself into the SOS's activities as LG ( just as he is currently trying to do with many of the Executive Branch agencies that are under the control of the Governor) and this last minute lawsuit is one more way to keep his fingers stuck into Watson's pie.
And, when it fails like his many other lawsuits he has filed as State Land Commissioner, he can blame Michael for not properly pursuing Delbert's agenda.
@8:50
My understanding is...
There are 2 spillway systems. One pushes water towards MS and the other towards LA. There are regulations stating how the spillways are supposed to be utilized to prevent polluted fresh water from really screwing up one side or the other. Delbert's argument (and the facts actually show he's right) is the Corps did not follow the regulations and dumped all of the water towards MS. The rumor (and this is just a rumor, take it for what it's worth) is there has been political influence from LA to keep the water away from their side.
11:59 that sounds plausible. In all recent Miss River flood events we've heard a lot of talk about opening Bonne Carre and almost nothing about opening the Morganza Spillway or the Old River Structure (both of which dump water into Louisiana and only effect the Gulf after passing over usual dry land).
No comments regarding Balch & Bingham being hired as outside counsel by the State to sue the Feds. I wonder if the same silence would apply if Hood had hired outside counsel to sue the Feds.
11:59 is correct. The issue is that lots of development has happened in the Floodway downstream of the Morganza Spillway and Old River Control Structure, even though these party are sent annual notice that floodwaters could be sent their way. Basically Morgan City has been built on a floodplain.
Lawsuit filed by MS SOS Hosemann and MS AG Hood on February 11, 2019 in the Federal Court of Claims (Takings Court) over mismanagement of the lower MS River in general and operation of the Old River Control Complex in particular in terms of damages to 8000 acres of 16th Section land in Claiborne, Adams and Wilkinson counties. Similar suit filed by over 400 private landowners owning over 400,000 acres on the MS River. The two suits were joined by the Court of Claims into one suit with Don Barrett of Lexington representing both the State of MS and the private landowners. The December 30, 2019 MS Sound lawsuit filed by MS SOS Hosemann and MS AG Hood was announced with an intent to sue in late October, 2019 so this is hardly a last minute publicity stunt. What it is are some very smart, committed Mississippians going after the federal government's violation of our state's constitutional rights. We are blessed to have such public servants and should be thankful they are willing to take on such a fight.
Delbert better hope the feds don’t counterclaim for the billion s of dollers they deliver to this third world shit hole called mississippi. Delbert thinks that water is dirty know, think how his presious state is gonna look when the money pipeline is cut off
8:26, that's a nutty post. You might as well suggest that because Tate won't push for Medicaid expansion, the feds might stop funding SNAP in this state or enforcing immigration laws. You apparently don't know it, but that's not how things work.
The Mississippi Sound was a sewer long before the BC spill way came along
Good job Delbert. We appreciate your diligence right up to your last day on the job Hope the new guy takes note.
Post a Comment