Another Federalism Battle Brewing

On Friday, Delaware filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware to stop Army Corps (re)dredging the Delaware River for a shipping channel, as the Philadelphia Inquirer reports here, and the Delaware News Journal, here. The Army Corps says this is routine maintenance of an interstate shipping channel over which it has jurisdiction under the Commerce Clause, whereas Delaware is seeking to to protect its environment--including listed species under the federal ESA.

Delaware rejected the Army Corps' application under the state Subaqueous Lands and Wetlands Acts for the project in July, but the Army Corps decided to go ahead anyway on October 25, finding that the federal government's right to maintain navigability on interstate waterways trumps Delaware's rights in this case. Delaware is seeking an injunction to stop the Corps, saying that the "decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to begin deepening Delaware waters is a direct challenge to the territorial authority of the State of Delaware and violates federal and state law.”

The Delaware Attorney General's press release--in which he notes that New Jersey is also on board in the fight--can be read here.

[Update: New Jersey, at the behest of Governor Corzine, has joined Delaware in its actions, filing a suit in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on this development, here.]