Airport Lands "Great" Court Victory

JACKSONVILLE, February 15, 2008--A federal judge here handed the Bay County Airport Authority ?another great win? late Thursday, airport officials said.

District Judge Timothy Corrigan declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the new airport in West Bay. Several environmental groups requested the injunction as part of a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers. The groups want to reverse a permit issued by the corps that allows the Airport Authority to build a new airport in West Bay.

?It?s another great win for us,? said Airport Authority attorney Mike Duncan.

Corrigan wrote the plaintiffs ?failed to show that the Corps acted arbitrarily and capriciously or abused its discretion.?

The ruling was ?probably the best case for us,? said Airport Authority Vice Chairman Bill Cramer.

Both construction and the lawsuit will continue, officials said. The lawsuit was filed by the Clean Water Network of Florida and Citizens for the Bay, but the judge has allowed the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, the Defenders of Wildlife and the Airport Authority to join the suit, officials with both sides said.

?We think it sets a really bad precedent nationwide to be allowing a permit that will allow this kind of wetlands destruction when there are practical alternatives,? said Melanie Shepherdson, an attorney with the NRDC, during a telephone interview before the ruling.

She added construction workers already had affected 60 acres of wetlands in the past two weeks. ?The harm is already being done,? Shepherdson said.

Airport officials said preliminary work that does not affect wetlands has been completed.

?We?ve exhausted most of what we can do without having some impact on the wetlands,? Cramer said.

While some environmental groups say the new airport will cause irreparable damage to West Bay, airport supporters say a land deal with The St. Joe Co. will protect 10,000 acres of wetlands forever.

This is the second time in recent months that local and national environmental groups have attempted to halt the construction on the 4,000-acre site north of County 388.

A stay was issued late last year in connection to a suit contesting the Federal Aviation Administration?s decision to allow the airport. A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay Jan. 25.