DESTRUCTION BY DESIGN: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Continuing  Assault on America’s Environment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (Return to Contents)

There are a host of existing laws designed to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps") from harming the environment, as well as laws that give the Corps the authority to help remedy the environmental harm it has caused. Yet, the Corps continually skirts the mandates of these laws, and rarely takes advantage of its own authority to remedy past damages. The result — environmental losses too many to enumerate.

In 1996, the Gulf Restoration Network and Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund (formerly Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) issued a joint report, entitled The Costly Corps: How the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Spends Your Tax Dollars To Destroy America's Natural Resources. The report focused on ten egregious examples of Corps projects from around the Gulf of Mexico that wasted tax dollars, destroyed wetlands, and provided few, if any, true economic benefits or benefits to flood control and navigation. Although a number of constructive recommendations were outlined in that report, and promising dialogue with the Corps policymakers has been ongoing, no demonstrative changes have occurred.

Therefore, the Gulf Restoration Network felt compelled to revisit this critical issue, before all our precious wetlands are lost to the failures of the Corps. For this report, we have examined

seven civil works projects and two of the Corps' permitting practices in the lower Mississippi River Basin and coastal Gulf of Mexico region that demonstrate the continued need for systematic changes in the policies and practices of the Corps. Our chosen examples are:

• The Big Sunflower River Maintenance Project in Mississippi
• Channelization of Clear Creek in Texas
• The Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project in Mississippi
• The Jackson Access Channel and Port Facility in Alabama
• The White & Cache River Navigation, Diversion, Irrigation, and Water Management Projects in Arkansas
• Permitting of Gulf Coast Casino Development in Mississippi
• Permitting in the Econlockhatchee River Basin in Florida

As the story of each of these examples unfolds, it becomes clear that negative patterns in the Corps’ policies and practices exist: patterns that are responsible for the continuing destruction of extremely valuable — and in some cases, extremely rare — wetland ecosystems. These patterns include, but are not limited to,:

• Secondary and cumulative impacts are not adequately considered
• Destruction of valuable natural resources is not minimized
• Economic benefits are overestimated

• Nonstructural alternatives are not adequately considered, even when they are often more cost effective
• The natural absorptive value of floodplains is not adequately considered
• Downstream consequences (such as increased flooding) are not adequately considered

• The mandates of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are not fully implemented
• Permits are issued in a piecemeal fashion
• Cumulative and secondary impacts are not adequately considered

• Relations with the general public are poor
• Information in the public domain is difficult to obtain or is not provided in a timely fashion
• The Corps' attitude towards critical reviews and recommendations of other federal agencies is dismissive

The need for reform within the Army Corps of Engineers is stronger and more urgent than ever. A decade ago, Congress decreed that the Corps would have a new mission: protecting the environment. Congress explicitly told the Corps that it must protect the environment when it plans, designs, constructs, operates, and maintains water resource projects. Although some high level policymakers at the Corps appear committed to this mission, significant reform has not filtered through the agency. The Corps continues to pursue navigation and flood control projects that are unneeded or ineffective, environmentally destructive, and extremely costly, and continues to issue far too many permits for dredge and fill of wetlands that cumulatively destroy thousands of acres of wetlands.

The recommendations outlined by the Gulf Restoration Network at the end of this report call upon the Corps to abide by all of its current mandates under existing federal environmental and water resources laws, and to implement Section 404(b)(1) of the Clean Water Act in a manner that better protects rapidly dwindling wetlands resources.

As we step into the 21^st Century, the Corps must embrace its environmental mission to protect the natural and water resources of our nation. Avoidance of environmental damage and wetlands loss must be paramount.