ELR Citation: ELR 20296
No(s). 73-C-183 (W.D. Wis. Mar 6, 1974)

The court grants summary judgment to the plaintiff and enjoins defendants from depositing spoil from their annual dredging of the Upper Mississippi River on lands or within waters inside the boundaries of the state of Wisconsin until a final NEPA impact statement has been filed. The court finds that the dredging project and consequent depositing of spoil is likely to cause irreparable harm to the environment, and that if no dredging is permitted in 1974 irreparable economic harm will be suffered by industrial, commercial, and agricultural enterprises in the area, and by individual consumers. But because the requirements of NEPA are so clearly applicable to the 1974 dredging project, the court doubts that a balancing of the equities is proper, and notes that in any event the equities lie in favor of appropriate injunctive relief. The basis for injunctive relief is not removed by defendant's declared intention to engage, prior to filing the final EIS, in dredging only at particular sites if emergency conditions arise, since these sites and conditions remain undefined and no change in past methods of spoil depositing has been promised. Defendants may apply to the court for modification of the injunction in specific emergency situations.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Robert W. Warren, Attorney General
Richard J. Boyd, Asst. Attorney General
State of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53702

Counsel for Defendants
John O. Olson, U.S. Attorney
Federal Building
Madison, WI 53701

Counsel for Intervenor Upper Mississippi Waterway Association
Charles Van Sickle
Wheeler, Van Sickle, Day & Anderson
25 West Main Street
Madison, WI 53703