Government won't appeal St. John's Bayou-New Madrid Floodway ruling

ST. LOUIS -- The Justice Department will not appeal a federal court ruling that halted work on a Southeast Missouri flood protection project.

The Memphis, Tenn., office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the decision Wednesday. A federal ruling in September 2007 stopped work on the St. John's Bayou-New Madrid Floodway Project.

The corps says it will comply with the court order and work with officials to plan the way ahead.

The floodway project would have closed a 1,500-foot gap in a Mississippi River levee, and, supporters say, benefited flood-prone communities in the Bootheel.

Two environmental groups, Environmental Defense and the National Wildlife Federation, brought a case in 2004 opposing the project.

Phone calls to those organizations were not immediately returned.