D’Iberville mayor claims conspiracy to delay casino construction

Tuesday, July 28, 1998 | 10:32 a.m.

The Corps ordered a moratorium early this year on further casino construction until the agency could map and study the most environmentally sensitive areas of the Coast.

Quave says Michael Davis, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has allowed himself "to be improperly influenced by a special interest group" including his brother-in-law, the EPA's Mike Wiley.

In a letter to top Corps officials, Quave wrote that those actions worked to "frustrate and delay the construction of a much needed casino in D'Iberville."

But casinos already in the permit pipeline, including the proposed project in D'Iberville, would continue through the approval process.

Neither the EPA or the Corps would confirm or deny whether an investigation into the allegations was underway.

Environmentalist Terese Collins, president of the Gulf Islands Conservancy, said, however, that EPA and Corps inspectors questioned her earlier this month.

The moratorium on casino construction is based on a tainted environmental assessment, Quave said. Collins and other casino opponents took Davis on a tour of the area's wetlands but did not invite public officials to join them, Quave said.

"There's some environmental concerns but not enough to have a whole environmental impact study done," Quave said. "Ms. Collins is not a true environmentalist. She just doesn't want to have a view of a casino in her own back yard. Her husband is in the construction business. They have filled and destroyed more wetlands than any construction business on the Coast."

Collins said Quave's allegations are untrue. The Corps and EPA have scheduled regular visits to the Coast since 1996 and have met with different people each time, she said.

"This is just harassment," Collins said. "This is just trying to flex muscle."

Collins and Quave declined to talk about the substance of their interviews with the Corps and EPA inspectors. They said they had been instructed by the inspectors not to reveal the nature of the investigation.

"Mainly, it's about the way we've been treated in the permitting process by the people in the Corps," Quave said.

Chip Smith, an assistant to Davis who has visited the Coast to assess the D'Iberville casino proposal, said his office sent information about the casino to the inspector general of the Corps several months ago, but he has not been interviewed by the inspectors.

"I don't think I should talk about it since it's being looked into formally," Smith said Monday.

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., wrote to EPA administrators in March after receiving about 20 letters from constituents - many of them form letters - with allegations similar to those laid out by Quave.

"Due to the seriousness of these allegations, I would appreciate it if you could look into this matter and report back to me on your findings as soon as possible," Taylor wrote.

EPA regional administrator John Hankinson replied in May. Hankinson defended his staff's actions as justified under the Clean Water Act.