| Outline of 1991 Settlement Agreement in United States v. South Florida
Water Management District, No. 88-1886-CIV-HOEVELER:
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1. Form of the Agreement.
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2. Commitment on water quality and water quantity.
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3. Interim and long-term total phosphorus limits.
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4. Remedial programs.
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5. Research and monitoring.
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6. Enforcement contingencies.
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7. Mutual cooperation.
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8. Force majeure.
1. Form of the Agreement. The settlement is implemented by a
Settlement
Agreement and Order. The Agreement includes a main body as well as
detailed technical appendices. The Order, issued by the district
court, approves the Agreement, incorporates its terms and requires
compliance with those terms. The district court retains jurisdiction
over the litigation, allowing the parties to seek judicial intervention
under the appropriate circumstances.
2. Commitment on water quality and water quantity. The Agreement
contains a fundamental commitment by all parties to achieve the water
quality and water quantity needed to preserve and restore the unique
flora and fauna of the Park and Refuge. Thus, the Agreement broadly
requires the SFWMD and DER (now DEP) to take such action as is necessary
to achieve all state water quality standards in the Park and Refuge by
July 1, 2002. The Agreement further requires the SFWMD to mitigate
reductions in the quantity of water entering the Park and Refuge due to
efforts to improve water quality.
3. Interim and long-term total phosphorus limits. The Agreement
establishes interim and long-term total phosphorus concentration limits
for Everglades National Park and Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
The interim limits, to be achieved by July 1, 1997, are established to
ensure progress toward meeting the long-term limits in the year 2002.
The long-term limits are intended to ensure the restoration and
maintenance of the native flora and fauna in the Park and Refuge. The
Agreement also calls ultimately for numerical interpretation and
implementation in the Park and Refuge of Class III Water Quality
criteria, if those numerical interpretations are more stringent than the
long-term limits set forth in the Agreement.
4. Remedial programs. The agreement establishes two remedial programs:
"stormwater treatment areas" (STAs) and a regulatory program. The STAs
are large, flow-through water treatment marshes designed to treat all
agricultural drainage flowing into the Everglades. The agreement
requires SFWMD to design and construct approximately 35,000 acres of
STAs, with provision for additional acreage if needed to meet the
long-term total phosphorus limits. The regulatory program will require
permits for all discharges of water from the Everglades Agricultural
Area located north of the Park and Refuge. It will also establish
specific, long-term phosphorus load allocations for permit applicants.
A key component of the regulatory program will be the implementation of
a Best Management Practice (BMP) Program designed to achieve an interim
phosphorus reduction of 10% and a long-term reduction of 25%.
5. Research and monitoring. The Agreement establishes a research and
monitoring program to be initiated by DEP and SFWMD. The research
program is intended to interpret numerically the narrative state water
quality standard for nutrients and to assess responses of the Park and
Refuge ecosystems to the phosphorus levels actually achieved, and to
provide data for research initiatives.
6. Enforcement contingencies. The Agreement establishes a schedule for
SFWMD and DEP to complete administrative actions consistent with the
terms of the Agreement. They formally acknowledge their authority to
take additional action against third parties responsible for nutrient
pollution of the Everglades if the schedule is not met.
7. Mutual cooperation. The Agreement adopts a commitment to
federal-state cooperation, with primary responsibility resting with the
State. The Agreement establishes a joint Technical Oversight Committee
(TOC) with representation of State and Federal agencies, requires mutual
technical support, and mandates mediation prior to initiation of
judicial proceedings to settle disputes. In order to settle the
defendants' counterclaim, the United States agreed that the Army Corps
of Engineers (ACOE) would apply for permits for some of its water
control structures in the Everglades.
8. Force majeure. The Agreement contains a force majeure clause which
explicitly recognizes natural disasters and unavoidable legal barriers
as uncontrollable events that might prevent or delay commitments under
the Agreement.
Related
links,
Notice of Filing
Settlement Agreement
Settlement Agreement
Consent Decree
847 F. Supp 1567 (S.D. Fla 1992)
11th
Circuit Ct. of Appeals decision
28 F.3d 1563 (11th
Cir. 1994 (cert denied 115 S.C. 1956)
Technical Oversight Committee
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