EAST ST. LOUIS - Cahokia Heights opposes the intervention of Centreville Citizens for Change in adoption of a consent decree for sewer improvements.
City counsel Erica Spitzig of Cincinnati argued on Feb. 4 that the group failed to overcome a presumption that national and state environmental agencies adequately represent them.
She claimed they intended to impose their ideas on an agreement between Cahokia Heights and the agencies.
She claimed intervention would likely cause delay and she proposed that if District Judge David Dugan grants it he should limit it to submitting objections.
National and state environmental agencies that responded to the intervention motion on the same date didn’t oppose it but proposed to limit it to a brief and a possible appeal.
Trial attorney Lauren Grady of the Department of Justice in Washington claimed appropriate limits would support a policy favoring settlements negotiated by the government.
“Any additional role such as undertaking discovery, reopening negotiations or interposing itself as a party to the consent decree would lead to unnecessary delay and an ineffective resolution," she wrote.
Centreville Citizens for Change sued Cahokia Heights in 2021, seeking relief from flooding of sanitary sewers and wastewater.
Dugan received the assignment because he presided over a sewer suit from the previous year with parallel claims and the same counsel.
Last year Dugan stayed both actions pending execution of a decree.
The agencies lodged it on Dec. 10 in the form of a civil complaint against Cahokia Heights.
The decree declared, “It is the city’s responsibility to determine how best to fund the work.”
It stated the city would submit a report in five years and base a rehabilitation plan on it.
Six years after that the city would submit a second report and base a rehabilitation plan on it.
The city could request up to five more years if financial considerations would impact its ability to meet a schedule for specific work.
The agencies reserved a right to withdraw the decree if comments show it is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate.
Federal Register published it on Dec. 19, setting a Feb. 17 deadline for public comment.
Centreville Citizens for Change counsel Mary Rock of Chicago moved to intervene on Jan. 21.
“Residents cannot wait for years or decades for solutions as the government agencies contemplate," she wrote.
She claimed sanitary sewers overflow and sewage enters waterways, runs down roadside ditches and spreads into homes and yards.
She called it an indignity and a health hazard that members have borne too long.
She claimed broad economic and fiscal interests of the agencies might conflict with specific health, property and environmental interests the group seeks to represent.
Government counsel Grady responded that the agencies are tasked with ensuring the city’s overall compliance, “not just for specific neighborhoods or interests.”
She claimed most members of the group live in Ping Pong and Piat Place neighborhoods.
She claimed the agencies negotiated changes to the decree after meetings with the group in December 2023 and last February.
She claimed the agencies provided a decree to the group prior to lodging and the group provided more than 20 pages of comments.
“In response to CCC’s comments the governments negotiated for more aggressive deadlines on certain projects, additional training for city staff, and a more detailed emergency plan among other requirements," she wrote.
She claimed the decree would include more than 80 near term projects including separation of the city’s system from the system in East St. Louis.
She claimed it would include assessment and repair of pipes and manholes.
She claimed it would digitize maps and monitor systems with modern technology.
She claimed the agencies engaged extensively with the group and addressed their concerns where feasible and appropriate.
She claimed it would be reasonable to permit the group to submit a brief but they shouldn’t be permitted to reopen negotiations on the settlement before the court.
Cahokia Heights counsel Spitzig responded to the group’s intervention motion by calling it a blatant attempt to circumvent Dugan’s stay on their action.
She claimed they didn’t satisfy a burden of establishing impairment by denial of intervention and lack of representation by the agencies.
She claimed the group has multiple legal avenues in which to pursue its interests.
She claimed the group could move to lift the stay in its case if the decree didn’t adequately address its concerns.
“CCC can now also submit comments on the consent decree like any other member of the public," she wrote.
“CCC has not demonstrated that it has any interest to be protected other than substituting its view of how the sewer system should be remedied for that of the environmental agencies.”