Brief: Tunnel work unearths pests, draws lawsuit

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 11:56 a.m.

"The waterbugs and roaches and rats have been unbelievable since they started digging," Pearl Epps Running Deer told The Press of Atlantic City newspaper.

Running Deer filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Camden to halt the project, which has already survived a number of legal challenges.

Some have come from Donald J. Trump, who claims the roadway is using $220 million of taxpayer money to benefit a private business -- that of rival casino mogul Steve Wynn.

Wynn is chairman of Mirage Resorts Inc. of Las Vegas. Mirage and another Las Vegas company, Boyd Gaming Corp., each plan Las Vegas-style casinos on a 150-acre site at one end of the 2.2-mile road, which would link the marina area with the foot of the Atlantic City Expressway.

Running Deer claims the project is a health hazard, and seeks $200 million for herself and other nearby residents.

She sued Mirage, the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the city and its mayor and council, Gov. Christine Whitman and Yonkers Construction.

Trump gave notice earlier this month he intends to sue again, this time claiming that several agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers and federal and state environmental authorities, violated environmental laws by granting permits for the project.