Federal District Court Finds Army Corps Liable for Hurricane Katrina Flooding

As you can read on CNN here and NPR's website, here. The opinion, from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, can be read here.

The Corps' liability was in tort, rather than statutory environmental law. But the entire theory of the case, and the causal link between the Corps' work and the damage from Katrina, is based on the premise that the Corps, knew it was destroying the surrounding environment in a manner that would endanger nearby residents in how it built and maintained the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet shipping canal. Judge Duvall explains in great detail how it caused massive erosion, along with salination of surrounding lakes and wetlands that destroyed plant life and limited the ability of those bodies of water to absorb Katrina's fury.

Although only about $750,000 was at stake in this case, if allowed to stand, it will set a major precedent, not just for Katrina victims, but also possibly for those living in the shadow of other major water re-routing projects built and maintained by the Corps. Some folks in Civil Appellate are going to be slammed for the next year or so, as appeal to the Fifth Circuit is inevitable.