By: Friends of the Wild Whoopers

Friends of Lydia Ann Channel (FLAC), a non-profit conservation group in Texas has won a major victory in its efforts to halt the completion and use of a mile and a half long industrial barge facility within the Lydia Ann Channel. The project is near the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, winter habitat of the endangered Whooping Cranes. FLAC’s legal Complaint claimed that USACE’s rushed authorization of the construction and operation of the project.
Endangered species habitat threaten
Barges using the channel would be accommodating hazardous materials in the middle of one of the most ecologically and recreationally significant waterways along the Texas gulf coast. The barge facility may threaten known endangered species habitat, interfere with and displaces public recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, hunting, boating, and birding, and constitutes a threat to both navigation and to public health and safety.
Letter of Permission revoked
The US Army Corps of Engineers has revoked the Letter of Permission authorizing the Lydia Ann Channel Moorings. USACE has determined that the mooring dolphins are no longer authorized and must be removed and the impacted areas restored. Click on the link below to read the full text of the revocation letter sent to LAC Moorings by the USACE. Copies were also sent to the Captain of the Port of Corpus Christi and filed with the Federal Court today.
FLAC will be negotiating conditions with the Department of Justice lawyers and Judge Jack in the coming weeks on several remaining issues, including the timing and method for removal of the structures, restoration, and our request for reimbursement of attorneys’ fees.
FLAC adds that, “Now that we have secured the win, we must turn our attention toward the future. The Devil is most certainly in the details of removal, restoration and further protection. We assure you all that FLAC will be there monitoring until the last seagrass sprig has been carefully placed on the backside of St. Jo; ensuring that GLO, the USCG and TPWD begin enforcing existing law to protect the shoreline ; and seeking additional protections for Lydia Ann Channel in hope that such a thing never happens again.”
Read the official letters from the US Army Corps of Engineers to Lydia Ann Channel Moorings and to the Captain of the Port of Corpus Christi and the official filing.
Click here to read the Letters of revocation
Click here to read the Court filing
For background information, click on the following link: https://friendsofthewildwhoopers.org/friends-of-lydia-ann-channel-sues-over-channel-project/
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
