Alligator Bayou Swamp Tours owner Frank Bonifay is suing Iberville Parish President Mitch Ourso and Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez, insisting the pair overstepped their authority in draining the Spanish Lake basin and have ruined his business. In a lawsuit filed late Thursday in Ascension Parish District Court, Bonifay says Ourso’s request to open the lock and allow the water to drain have damaged his tour barge, The Alligator Queen, by grounding it in mud and rocks, and killed 300 cypress trees he planted. He also contends their actions have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue because he can no longer offer swamp tours.
Citing a series of intergovernmental agreements dating back to 1994, Bonifay’s lawyers argue that only the East Ascension Consolidated Drainage District No. 1 has the authority to control the lock — and only after a public vote by the Iberville Parish Council. They also accuse Ourso and Martinez of breaking a state law forbidding the obstruction of a navigable waterway. “By completely destroying the navigability of the waterway and the character of the entire ecosystem of the basin in order to gain speculative benefits, defendants have acted excessively and abusively,” the lawsuit says.
Bonifay seeks an injunction ordering Ourso and Martinez to restore Alligator Bayou to a navigable waterway, as well as payment of lost revenues. Ourso asked Martinez to open the lock “immediately” in March after Lago Espanol, Rivalake and Resource Environmental Solutions initiated plans to turn their basin land into a wetlands mitigation bank. Those landowners contend keeping the lock closed artificially floods their land. Martinez could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment. Judy Burleigh, a spokeswoman for Ourso, says the Iberville parish president hasn’t yet received a copy of the lawsuit and couldn’t comment.—Penny Font
