ELR Citation: ELR 20321
No(s). B-582 (D. Conn. Mar 26, 1973)

A temporary injunction against the dredging of New Haven harbor by the Army Corps of Engineers pending compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act is made permanent. The Corps now admits that the project requires compliance with NEPA, but this acknowledgment is not sufficient ground for dissolving the injunction since plaintiff is also challenging the sufficiency of the NEPA compliance.

Because the draft environmental impact statement is not a final agency action, the court refuses to review its sufficiency. The court believes that the function of the draft statement is to elicit comments which contribute to the final statement on which the final agency decision is based. Thus, it differs from highway corridor hearings which are the actual basis for corridor selection, and which are reviewable final actions. Nonetheless, if subsequent review of the final statement indicates that the draft statement failed to elicit appropriate reaction to the project, additional NEPA compliance can be ordered.

For earlier opinion see 2 ELR 20694.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Haynes N. Johnson
460 Summer Street
Stamford, CT 06901

Davidson & Chambliss
520 Riverside Avenue
Westport, CT 06880

Alfred S. Forsyth
Forsyth, Decker, Murray & Broderick
51 West 51st Street
New York, NY 10019

John Hoffman
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc.
311 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94104

Counsel for Defendant
Stewart H. Jones U.S. Attorney
Howard S. Eckenrode Assistant U.S. Attorney
Fedeal Office Building
450 Main Street
Hartford, CT 06103