ELR Citation: ELR 20251
No(s). 73-824-Civ.-J-S (M.D. Fla. Jan 29, 1974)

The Corps of Engineers' environmental impact statement on a dredge and fill project for 275 acres of marshland on a man-made island in the St. Johns River complies with the requirements of NEPA under the reasonableness standard. The island, which is zoned for industrial uses, has been designated as the site for a port to manufacture floating nuclear power plants for use on the east and gulf coasts. The cost/benefit analysis in the EIS adequately considered the project's environmental effects, and found them to be outweighed by the expected benefits, such as increased employment opportunities for Jacksonville's unemployed and underemployed. The court points out that the marshland affected represents less than one percent of the total marshland in northern Florida, and notes a commitment by the manufacturer to purchase 1,050 acres of marshland elsewhere and commit it by restrictive covenant to the public. The impact statement also adequately developed alternative site selection data, and did not lack objectivity merely because the data was prepared by parties with a financial interest in the project or their agents. The court finds that issuance of the permit need not be withheld pending final AEC approval of the manufacturing license, since delay would be extremely costly and perhaps fatal to the project, and it cannot be assumed that the AEC's objectivity will be affected by issuance of the permit.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Frederick D. Palmer
Don T. Brown
1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

David Gluckman
Star Route, Box 11-1
Crescent City, FL 32012

Counsel for Defendants
Irwin L. Schroeder
Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530

Counsel for Defendant-Intervenor Offshore Power Systems, Inc.
Peter J. Nickles
John B. Jones
James C. McKay
Covington & Burling
888 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Vincent W. Campbell
P.O. Box 8000
Jacksonville, FL 32211

Counsel for Defendant-Intervenor Jacksonville Urban League, Inc.
Guy O. Farmer, II
P.O. Box 4099
Jacksonville, FL 32201

John M. Ferren
M. Langhorne Keith
Patrick M. Raher
815 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Counsel for Defendant-Intervenor Jacksonville Port Authority
Daniel U. Livermore, Jr.
1300 City Hall
Jacksonville, FL32202

Counsel for Defendant-Intervenors National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, The Youth Congress, The Black Community Coalition, The Afro Cultural Development Center, and Greater Jacksonville Economic Opportunity, Inc.
Ronald H. Brown
55 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022

David H. Tatel
James H. Skiles
520 Woodward Building
733 15th Street, NW
Whahington, DC 20005