Citizens challenge Army Corps of Engineers re. environmental threats inOr., La.

PORTLAND, OREGON - Carol Forsloff - The Army Corps of Engineers is once again on the docket for environmental problems, along with the National Marine Fisheries  for potential endangerment of Oregon's environment, as it remains under scrutiny by citizens in Louisiana. 

In a case filed in Federal court, environmentalists are challenging gravel mining, a procedure that is to allow the mining of gravel from the lower Chatco River, even though the defendants in the suit agreed that it would damage the river's Coho salmon. 

The Northwest Environmental Defense Center, the plaintiff in this case, are in violation of the Endangered Species Act by allowing gravel mining on the river that will reduce the salmon population significantly. 

The suit further alleges that the Corps' advisory committees stand in the way of the environmental group's protect of the Northwest resources on the river that harm NEDC"s membersr' recreationals, scientific and aesthetic interests that include boating, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, sightseeing, birdwatching and wildlife viewing in the Chetco River. 

The Army Corps of Engineers has been part of the controversy now concerning the environment in Oregon and also at the opposite end of the country, Louisiana.  Louisiana citizens, through an organization callled Levees.org, demands accountability of ACE through education on its need to develop better systems of protection and the court-supported documentation that it did not fulfill its responsibilities in constructing levees with the integrity to protect New Orleans from flooding during Hurricane Katrina.  There are also concerns that ACE has used its influence to suppress knowledge and information from citizen advocates and environmental educators, even as it is accused of utilizing advantage in circumventing environmental groups concerns in Oregon.

As Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans, Sandy Rosenthal of Levees.org and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center maintain, environmental protection is at the heart of the debate on levees and other citizen issues presently involving ACE's responsibilities.