Sierra Club v. Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries

BECKER, Judge.

This appeal arises from a long standing struggle between the Sierra Club, an environmental conservationist group and the shell dredging industry represented in this case by Dravo Basic Materials Company (Dravo). In March of 1983 the Sierra Club filed the present suit to declare illegal certain leases between Dravo and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries because they awarded to Dravo the right to remove shells and shell deposits from the water bottoms belonging to the State of Louisiana without first having obtained these contracts through the public bid process as…