•
01-16226
Miccosukee v. SERA,
11th circuit
•
00-15703
v. SFWMD,
11th circuit
•
99-01315-CIV-JAL
Miccosukee v. SERA
U.S. District Court
Litigation News
18-June-04
Everglades ruling favors state of Florida
© Washington Times
Tallahassee, FL, Jun. 18 (UPI) -- An administrative law judge has sided with the state of Florida on its revised set of guidelines for phosphorous pollution of the Everglades.
The Miccosukee Tribe, which filed the suit, immediately filed another federal court suit following the ruling, The Miami Herald reported Friday.
Many environmentalists said the changes were made by the Legislature to weaken and delay the $8.4 billion Everglades restoration project.
The decision was praised by Gov. Jeb Bush, state regulators and water managers as a step toward restoration.
Read more
MICCOSUKEE TRIBE FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST
EPA CLAIMING THE EVERGLADES FOREVER ACT VIOLATES THE CLEAN WATER ACT
Press/For Immediate Release
Today the Miccosukee Tribe of
Indians, whose members have lived in
the
Everglades for centuries and strive to
protect it, announced that it
has
filed a
lawsuit in federal district court against
the Environmental Protection
Agency
(EPA) under the citizen suit provision of
the Clean Water Act. The
lawsuit
claims that the controversial Everglades
Forever Act (EFA), amended in
2003 by
the Florida legislature, amounts to a de
facto suspension of water
quality
enforcement in the Everglades until at
least 2016 and violates the
Clean
Water
Act's anti-degradation standards. The
Tribe which won a similar
lawsuit
against
the EPA after the original EFA was passed
in 1994, is asking the Court
to
order
EPA to review the 2003 Amended EFA as a
change in state water quality
standards and to disapprove of the change
as a violation of the Clean
Water Act.
According to Dexter Lehtinen who is
representing the Tribe, "The
federal
record is clear that federal oversight is
essential to accomplishing
Everglades
restoration and achieving the clean
water necessary for its success.
This
lawsuit is designed to achieve that
oversight."
20 May 2004
State asks U.S. to muzzle tribe's Glades complaints
The state questioned whether the complaints of the most vocal critic of Everglades cleanup, the Miccosukee Tribe, matter -- at least in a court of law. It's up to a judge to decide.
BY CURTIS MORGAN
© Miami Herald
State water managers asked a federal judge Wednesday to put a legal muzzle on the Miccosukee Tribe, the most dogged and litigious critic of the Everglades cleanup.
U.S. District Judge Frederico Moreno made no decision on the request by the South Florida Water Management District to limit the tribe's power to challenge state efforts but ordered a new hearing in September.
Miccosukee attorney Dexter Lehtinen dismissed the move as a ploy to delay addressing tribe allegations that the state is violating its 12-year-old agreement with the federal government to reduce pollution in Everglades.
Lehtinen said the tribe's legal standing had been established since a landmark 1992 settlement overseen by Judge William Hoeveler. Hoeveler was disqualified last year over pointed comments about a controversial state overhaul of water pollution standards.
Read more
Read more case information here.
18
May 04
FEDERAL EVERGLADES
CASE HEATS UP: STATUS CONFERENCE MAY 19
Judge Moreno Schedules a Status Conference May 19th
and a July 7th Evidentiary Hearing on the Miccosukee
Tribe Motions to Enforce the Settlement Agreement
Media Advisory
Joette Lorion (305) 281-0429
Today the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, whose members live in the
Florida Everglades, announced that the honorable Judge
Federico A. Moreno will hold a status conference in the
federal Everglades case on May 19th beginning at 9 AM at
the United States Courthouse, Courtroom IV, Tenth Floor,
Federal Justice Building, 99 NE 4th Street in Miami,
Florida. The Judge has instructed Counsel to be prepared
to address all pending matters that have not been
referred to a magistrate at tomorrow's status
conference. In the same Order
setting the May 19th status conference, Judge Moreno
also set an evidentiary hearing, for July 7th
in the same courtroom, again beginning at 9 A.M. The
July 7th hearing is being held to present evidence
relevant to the issues raised by the Miccosukee Tribe
in two recent Motions: 1) The Miccosukee Tribe of
Indians' Motion Seeking a Declaration of Violations in
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge; and 2) the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' Motion Seeking a
Declaration of Breach by the SFWMD concerning STA 3/4
deadlines. Read
more
27-March-04
A ruling for pollution
Editorial
© Palm
Beach Post
Private industries and
utilities don't have the right to dump dirty water into clean water. A
government agency shouldn't have that right, either. That's the issue in a
long-running court battle between the South Florida Water Management
District, which needs to dump dirty water from urban drainage canals, and
the Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of the Everglades,
which sued to stop the district from dumping that polluted runoff into
clean Everglades water. This week, the U.S.
Supreme Court also muddied the case. The court rejected the district's
argument that it merely moves polluted water from one place to another and
so doesn't need an expensive federal permit. The permit would set a
timetable and force the district to clean water before dumping it into
Everglades marshes. Read
more
24-March-04
Glades pumping-station case sent back to
court in Miami
The U.S. Supreme Court sends a closely watched Everglades pumping station
case back to federal court in Miami.
BY KARL ROSS
© Miami
Herald
The U.S. Supreme Court in a
ruling Tuesday declined to settle a long-standing dispute between the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and local water managers over a Broward County
pumping station the tribe says is polluting the Everglades. The
case, believed to have far-reaching repercussions, is being closely
monitored by environmental groups and public officials from across the
country. At issue is whether the South Florida
Water Management District needs to obtain a federal pollution discharge
permit to operate pumps that keep
suburban enclaves dry but spill contaminants across a levee to the west.
The Supreme Court ordered the case be returned to U.S.
District Court in Miami to determine whether state water managers need to
treat pollutants discharged by its S-9 pumping station. In doing so, they
overturned favorable rulings for the Miccosukees obtained over the course
of the six-year legal battle. Read
more
U.S. Supreme Court sidesteps issue on
dirty water being pumped into Everglades
By Neil Santaniello
© Sun-Sentinel
The U.S. Supreme Court on
Tuesday evaded settling a dispute over dirty water pumped into the
Everglades, bouncing the issue back to a lower court. The
ruling on an dispute keenly watched by several states contained enough
ambiguity to fuel claims of victory from both sides of the legal fight
centered on a trio of diesel-powered stormwater pumps near Weston. Environmentalists
said they were victorious because the court rejected a South Florida Water
Management District argument that pumps were immune from federal
clean-water permits because the machines didn't generate the dirty water
they push into the central Everglades. "We
didn't get everything we wanted, but we got 90 cents on the dollar,"
said Earthjustice attorney David Guest. But the
court, in a 14-page decision delivered by Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor, left open a chance for the district to ultimately prevail in the
long-running suit brought by the Miccosukee Indian Tribe and Friends of
the Everglades. Read
more
High court ruling in Everglades case
pleases both sides
By Robert P. King
© Palm
Beach Post
Water managers eventually
might have to get costly federal permits for their pumps that pollute the
Everglades -- but not just yet, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
In an 8-1 decision that left both sides claiming
victory, the justices said a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale acted too
hastily when he ordered the South Florida Water Management District to
seek permits for pumps in western Broward County. But
the Supreme Court also rejected one of the district's prime legal
arguments -- that its pumps cannot be blamed for moving water that's
already polluted. That caused environmentalists and the Miccosukee Indian
tribe to predict they'll win when the case returns to a South Florida
courtroom for further argument. "I don't
see how we could lose," said Miccosukee attorney Dexter Lehtinen,
who joined Friends of the Everglades in suing the district in 1998. The
justices, he said, "just slam-dunked the district on its legal
arguments." Read
more
23-March-04
Supreme Court dodges
major ruling in Everglades pollution case
By GINA HOLLAND
© Miami
Herald
WASHINGTON
- The Supreme Court, sidestepping a major decision on
the government's power to regulate clean water, told a
Florida court Tuesday to reconsider a pollution dispute
involving the Everglades. The
ruling extends a six-year fight between the 500-member
Miccosukee Indian tribe and a water district the Indians
accuse of illegally dumping pollutants into Florida's
Everglades. The South Florida
Water Management District's pump west of Fort Lauderdale
dumps as much as 423,000 gallons a minute of polluted
runoff from
suburban lawns, farms and industrial yards into the
Everglades, including 189,000 acres the state leased to
the tribe and promised to keep in its natural state.
The district was sued in 1998 by the
Miccosukees and Friends of the Everglades under the
federal Clean Water Act. Read
more
U.S. SUPREME COURT
REJECTS SFWMD POLLUTION ARGUMENT
Press/For
Immediate Release
MIAMI- On March
23, 2004 the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the South
Florida Water Management District's argument that they
are only moving polluted water and are not the source or
responsible party for purposes of the CWA, but remanded
the case back to the District court for a factual
determination of the "distinctiveness" between
Water Conservation Area 3A and suburban Broward County.
The case, the South Florida Water
Management District v. the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians,
et al., involves the South Florida Water Management
District's practice of pumping polluted water from urban
and agricultural areas into Florida's famed River of
Grass. It was brought by Friends of the
Everglades, a small grassroots group founded by Marjory
Stoneman Douglas, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians,
who live in the Everglades. The suit alleges that
the South Florida Water Management District, an agency
of the State of Florida, is violating the federal Clean
Water Act by collecting and dumping untreated run-off
into the Everglades rather that treating it or enforcing
pollution laws against landowners. A U.S. District
Court and federal Appeals Court ruled in favor of
Friends and the Tribe and the Water Management District
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court last year. John
Childe, attorney for Friends of the Everglades, said
"We are grateful that the Supreme Court has
determined that the Clean Water Act applies to the kinds
of pumps being used by the SFWMD and welcome the
opportunity to demonstrate to the Court the difference
between the pristine Everglades and a man-made suburban
drainage district." Read
more
SUPREME COURT RULES:S-9 SAGA TO CONTINUE
Miccosukee Tribe Wins On Only Question Presented By the District Supreme
Court Calls District Argument "Untenable" Remands for Factual
Record On Issue Presented by Solicitor General
PRESS/For Immediate Release
Dexter Letinen (305) 279-3353
Joette Lorion (305) 281-0429
Today the U.S. Supreme Court
issued a 14 page opinion delivered by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (along
with a separate two page opinion by Justice Scalia in which he partly
agrees and partly dissents) in the case South Florida Water Management
District v the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and Friends of the Everglades.
The sole question the District presented to the Supreme Court was:
"Whether the pumping of water by a state water management
agency that adds nothing to the water being pumped constitutes an
"addition' of a pollutant ‘from' a point source triggering the need
for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System under the Clean
Water Act." The Miccsoukee Tribe prevailed on this issue with
the Supreme Court clearly rejecting the only issue the District's
presented. The Opinion states: "This initial argument is
untenable, and even the District appears to have abandoned it in its reply
brief." Opinion at p. 7. According to
Dexter Lehtinen, who argued this case before the Supreme Court, The
District wasted tons of taxpayer dollars bringing the question of whether
they are responsible for dirty water that their pump discharges into clean
water if their pump doesn't add anything to that water to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which heartily rejected it, calling their claim untenable. Read
more
03-March-04
Judge closes case
after setting up review procedure
By CATHERINE
WILSON
© Sarasota
Herald-Tribune
MIAMI -- A
federal judge has taken Everglades pollution cleanup off
the public stage, at least temporarily, by setting up a
procedure for expert review of federal and state
restoration work. U.S.
District Judge Federico Moreno concluded that "it
may be impossible" to meet phosphorous standards,
the most critical aspect of the project, by 2006. But he
gave a special master broad authority to monitor
compliance and formally closed the court case with a
one-page order last week. The
decision brings to an end a two-year series of court
hearings at which attorneys bickered about compliance,
although anyone who claims public agencies are violating
a 1992 settlement agreement can ask the court to get
involved again. Special master
John Barkett, an environmental lawyer who has handled
nine Superfund cleanup cases, could mediate any dispute
and would be asked to make recommendations to the judge
on any motions claiming noncompliance. Read
more
07-January-04
Clean Water Act Case
to be Heard by U.S. Supreme Court on
January 14th
Miccosukee Tribe Continues its Struggle to Protect its
Everglades Homeland
PRESS RELEASE
For more information, contact Joette Lorion (305)
281-0429
Next
week, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, whose
members have lived in the Everglades for
centuries, will carry its struggle for clean water to
the highest court in the land. On Wednesday January 14,
2003, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Case No. 02-62.
The small 500 member Tribe began its legal battle many
years ago joined by the environmental group Friends of
the Everglades, which was founded by revered pioneer
conservationist and author Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
The Tribe and Friends five year David v. Goliath
struggle against a government entity called the South
Florida Water Management
District resulted in two lower court decisions in their
favor. Both the U.S. District Court and 11th Circuit
Court of Appeals agreed with the Tribe and Friends that
the SFWMD was violating the Clean Water Act by
backpumping polluted water from its S-9 pump into the
fragile Everglades without a National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)Permit. They ordered
the SFWMD to get an NPDES Permit for its S-9 pump.
Letter to the
editor: Preliminary injunction
needed to halt drawdown
Written by
Kevin Stinnette, Indian Riverkeeper
© Stuart
News
I
appreciate Suzanne Wentley's article about the Indian
Riverkeeper suit to have the Lake Tohopekaliga drawdown
halted while an adequate analysis of the impacts is
conducted. I regret giving the impression that I am
content to have had our day in court. We
are determined that this drawdown should not be done
while Lake Okeechobee is in the midst of an emergency
situation. We are concerned for the estuaries, of
course, but also for the Kissimmee River restoration,
the survival of the snail kite and the protection of
wildlife areas south of Lake Okeechobee. Many of our
members fish Lake Okeechobee and go birding
in Central Florida. Lake Tohopekaliga is within the
Indian River Lagoon's watershed and our mission is the
protection of that watershed. Read
more
31-December-03
Miami judge to hear
case over expansion of mining in Everglades
© Herald-Tribune/
The Associated Press
MIAMI --
U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler,
who was removed from a lawsuit on the
giant Florida Everglades restoration project, has been
assigned a lawsuit brought by environmental groups
against the Army Corps of Engineers over limestone
mining in the Everglades. U.S.
District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ordered the case
transferred
Tuesday from Washington to the Southern District of
Florida based on a motion by
mining industry officials. The case will now be heard by
Hoeveler. Hoeveler was removed
from the Everglades restoration case in September
following complaints from sugar growers that he favored
environmental groups. The
limestone lawsuit was brought in August 2002 to overturn
a decision that would allow continued limestone mining
in 5,409 acres on the edge
of the Everglades for the next 10 years. Read
more
10-December-03
Court upholds state,
county growth management in Keys
By CATHERINE
WILSON
© Wichita
Eagle
MIAMI - An
appeals court sided with growth-control advocates
Wednesday when it threw out a ruling that could have
opened the door to large-scale development of thousands
of Florida Keys house lots carved up since the 1920s.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal
endorsed measures adopted in the last two decades to add
environmental and infrastructure issues to the mix when
considering residential construction in the sensitive
island chain. The decision
means the difference between building 200 houses a year
and potentially letting 15,000 go up, said attorney
Richard Grosso, who argued the appeal for environmental
groups. Grosso of Nova
Southeastern University's Environmental and Land Use Law
Center said the ruling also means that thousands of lots
in the Keys will have to be developed according to
modern rules. "This is
judicial affirmation of the fact that we can regulate
growth," he said. Read
more
04-December-03
'Glades standards challenged
By Neil Santaniello
© Sun-Sentinel
A legal challenge that seeks to toss out a proposed state pollution standard -- charging it fails to protect the Everglades -- starts today in Tallahassee.
The Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of the Everglades are pushing ahead with a request for a state administrative law judge to invalidate the rule crafted by the state Environmental Regulation Commission. They maintain the rule won't provide the necessary reduction of damaging phosphorus that washes into the marsh with farm and suburban stormwater and argue it could worsen water quality in the 'Glades.
Still, the ranks of those rejecting the rule as bad environmental policy thinned last week. After first bashing the rule, state and national Audubon officials, the Florida Wildlife Federation and Everglades Foundation reached a settlement over it with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection just before Thanksgiving.
Read more
30-November-03
American dream gets in way of Everglades restoration
By HILARY ROXE, AP
© Keys News
MIAMI -- Osvaldo Cueli's 10-acre nursery, with its rows of potted mahogany saplings and towering Royal Palms, stands stoutly in the way of a massive effort to replumb the Everglades.
For nearly 15 years, Cueli and dozens of others from Cuba, Colombia and other Latin American countries have lived in this 8.5-square-mile area on the eastern edge of the Everglades National Park and have resisted federal and state efforts to take their land.
Officials say this area is crucial to restoring natural water flow through the Everglades, and to the $8.4 billion restoration project. Under a compromise reached last February, about a third of the area's landowners have agreed to sell their property in the next few months, but they say they expected more when they came to the United States.
"It's unbelievable that this is happening in America," said Cueli, a Cuban immigrant. "I've never wanted to sell here. I've done everything possible to stay."
Read more
21-November-03
Emergency Court Action Seeks Halt to Drawdown Discharges
to major estuaries linked to damaging "mudbaths."
© Florida
Sportsman
An emergency motion has been
filed in federal court requesting a temporary injunction against an
impending drawdown of Lake Toho that is expected to lead to even more
discharges of billions of gallons of fresh water into the St. Lucie and
Caloosahatchee estuaries in the Fort Myers and Stuart coastal regions.
The Indian Riverkeeper, local affiliate of a national
group that has successfully fought for clean water programs in other
states, filed the injunction motion this week in West Palm Beach, asking
for a hearing in early December. The action is filed against the U. S.
Army Corps of Engineers and its brigadier general, although the drawdown
program is a project of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission. Read
more
30-October-03
Expert to monitor cleanup
BY CATHERINE WILSON
© Miami Herald
A federal judge in Miami agreed with environmental groups and an Indian tribe Wednesday to appoint an expert to monitor Everglades pollution cleanup, in a defeat for the Bush administrations in Washington and in Tallahassee.
Government agencies and politically powerful sugar growers vigorously objected to the appointment of a special master to consider whether an 11-year-old Everglades restoration pact is being violated or will be soon.
''To delay action would be irresponsible,'' U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno said in an order issued after business hours. The special master ``will offer additional assurance that the Everglades cleanup will proceed in a timely and efficient fashion.''
Read more
>> Read Judge Moreno's order
granting appointment of special master [1mb
pdf file]
Everglades Judge Will Appoint Everglades
Clean-up “Special Master”
Expert will monitor state’s compliance with Everglades clean-up
requirements
©
Earthjustice
Tallahassee,
FL-- U.S. District Judge
Federico Moreno announced he will appoint a special master to assist him
in deciding whether Florida is violating a legal settlement to clean up
the Everglades. The South Florida Water Management District and the
state are bound by a 1991 settlement agreement to reduce fertilizer
running off sugar farms into the Everglades. The appointment of the
special master was an idea first raised when U.S. District Judge William
Hoeveler presided over the case. After overseeing the issue since 1988,
Judge Hoeveler was removed from the case earlier this year after lawyers
for the sugar industry sought his removal. Appointment of the special
master brings a technical expert to aid the federal judge in determining
compliance with requirements to reduce the amount of fertilizers that
are dumped into the Everglades by the sugar farms. Read
more
23-September-03
Respected Federal Judge Removed From
Everglades Trial
Sugar industry desperately attempts to avoid
pollution restrictions
Contact Info: Cory
Magnus, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500
or David Guest, Earthjustice, (850) 681-0031
©
Earthjustice
Tallahassee, Florida--
After more than a decade of presiding over the federal
lawsuit that brought national attention to the need for
Everglades restoration, Judge William Hoeveler has been
forced to step down as a result of accusations that he
was biased against the sugar industry. Big Sugar filed a
motion to remove the judge from the case last spring,
after he reprimanded the Florida legislature for passing
a new law allowing the sugar industry to continue
overloading the Everglades with phosphorous pollution.
“The sugar industry
knew that they could not make their case in court, so it
decided to attack this extraordinarily distinguished
judge,” said David Guest, Managing Attorney for
Earthjustice’s Tallahassee office. [Click
here for a downloadable soundbite from attorney
David Guest. (377 kb downloadable AUDIO)]
Read more
15-September-03
SFWMD vs Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of the Everglades
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court,
which has agreed to hear a case that is vital to environmental protection
and to restoring the fragile Florida Everglades, learned today that an
overreaching new interpretation of federal clean-water laws could severely
delay the complex Everglades Restoration effort. -- Progress on Everglades Restoration,
National Application At Stake
South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)
Read more
11-September-03
Miccosukeee Tribe Says Water Management District Claim
That Clean Water
Act Permit for the S-9 Pump Will Be Bad for
Everglades Restoration is
Reminiscent
of Chicken Little
Today, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians said the
South Florida Water Management District's claim that forcing water managers to
get a Clean Water Act permit for their S-9 pump would be bad for Everglades
Restoration is reminiscent of Chicken Little. [The District is currently
attempting to overturn important Clean Water Act federal court victories won by
the Tribe in its struggle to stop the pollution of its Everglades homeland. The
case, South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of
the Everglades, No. 02-626 will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in January.]
Read more
Water district gains ally in permit fight
The federal government sided with
South Florida water managers Wednesday and
advised the
U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court's decision
mandating a federal permit for the pumping of dirty water into
the Everglades. U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson said in a legal brief
that the pumping station near U.S. 27 and Griffin Road in western Broward County
does not qualify as an introducer of pollution a U.S. waters under federal
rules. The South Florida Water Management District has is merely passing along
pollution – phosphorus -- that it did not generate, and that water transfer
agencies historically have not been required to obtain water quality permits.
The Justice Department motion said the pump station merely transports dirty
water. That means it shouldn't be regulated under a federal permit, Olson wrote.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case early next year.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved
10-September-03
Federal Government Argues For Weaker Clean Water
Protections
Washington DC-- A brief filed today with the U.S.
Supreme Court by the federal government argues that municipal water management
districts can pipe dirty water into cleaner water without any permit under the
federal Clean Water Act. The U.S. Solicitor General filed an amicus brief in the
case, South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe, No. 02- 626,
which would have serious impacts on federal protections for the nation’s waters,
as well as on the imperiled Florida Everglades. “Today the federal government
sided with polluters who want to avoid any responsibility for the dirty water
they dump into our drinking water supplies, our natural lakes, streams and
wetlands,” said David Guest, managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Tallahassee
office.
Read more
Copyright © 2002 Earth
Justice All rights reserved.
11-July-03
Letter to the Editor: Defending
water-pumping case important to Everglades cleanup
Written by Henry
Dean, Executive Director, SFWMD
© Palm Beach Post
Everglades restoration continues to have
unwavering support from the governing board and staff of
the South Florida Water Management District. The state
and the district already have spent more than $1 billion
on phosphorus reduction and have made tremendous strides
in cleaning up the Everglades. In addition, billions
more are committed to implement the federal-state
partnership to revitalize the Everglades ecosystem by
increasing clean water supplies and restoring more
natural flows. Recently, opponents have attempted to
oversimplify legal issues and incorrectly characterize
the district's defense of a lawsuit now headed for a
decision by the Supreme Court as
"pro-pollution" ("No permit to
pollute," editorial Sunday). This federal case
(commonly referred to as the S-9 case) involves a legal
dispute about the inappropriate and unnecessary
application of a federal permit process under the Clean
Water Act. This process never was designed to be applied
to the movement of water though a pump station. Also,
all parties concede that the district -- through
operation of the regional water management system
designed to provide flood relief -- adds no pollutants
to the water being moved. Read
more
10-July-03
Florida Law Limiting Citizens' Right to Dispute Challenged
© Environmental News Service - ENS
TALLAHASSEE, Florida - Attorneys for the nonprofit public interest law firm Earthjustice opened their case today on behalf of two Florida groups who are challenging a Florida law that restricts the rights of ordinary citizens to dispute government decisions that affect the environment.
The bill at issue passed in the final hours of the last legislative session, after being cobbled together with an unrelated bill that was likely to pass.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and Manasota 88, claims that the law violates the Florida Constitution because it deals with two unrelated topics.
"This law seeks specifically to favor the interests of large corporations over the ordinary Floridian," said David Guest of Earthjustice. "All citizens have the right to question their government, and we don't intend to let an unconstitutional law take that right away."
After repeated attempts to get the bill, Senate Bill 270, passed in previous sessions, sponsor state Senator Jim King attached it to an Everglades restoration bill that was widely supported. The package was signed into law in May 2002.
Read more
0
6-July-03
No permit to pollute
Editorial
© Palm Beach Post
The state agency didn't pollute the
water. But it moves polluted water from one place to another and dumps it
into clean water, such as the Everglades. Is the agency a polluter? The
South Florida Water Management District, which moves and dumps polluted
water into cleaner water daily, wants to know. Unhappy with lower court
rulings that hold the water
district responsible, the district appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which last week agreed to consider the case. Responding to a suit by the
Miccosukee Indian Tribe and the environmental group Friends of the
Everglades, an appeals court earlier said the water
district must obtain a federal permit to pump polluted water from Broward
County suburbs into the Everglades. The district argues that as long as it
doesn't add the pollutant, it should be allowed to pump polluted water
into pristine water without a federal permit. Read
more
27-June-03
U.S. Supreme
Court To Hear Friends of the Everglades Pollution Case
Press Release
© Friends
of the Everglades
The Supreme Court of the
United States has agreed to hear a challenge by the
South Florida Water Management District (District) to
the Clean Water Act case that it lost to Friends of the
Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. Friends
and the Tribe won at both the US District and Appeals
court levels. The case involves the pumping of polluted
water into the Everglades by the South Florida Water
Management District. The S-9 is a pump station which
back pumps polluted water from the C-11 canal basin in
Broward County into the Everglades. The discharge has
caused severe damage in the Everglades especially in
Water Conservation Area 3A - home to the small
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. The Federal District Court
held that a federal pollution discharge permit is
required. Such a permit would set strict limits on how
much pollution the District can discharge. Read
more17-January-03
Manatee group loses court fight over endangered species
law
Critics of manatees and sea turtle regulations
can file administrative challenges, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday,
rejecting an argument by environmental groups that such challenges could not be
made. But the losers aren't too upset. That's because the unanimous
decision means Save the Manatee Club, the Florida Wildlife Federation and others
in the environmental community will also be able to challenge rules made by the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We thought we'd
be defending them ... and now I think it's more likely that we're going to be
challenging them," said David Guest, a lawyer for Earthjustice Legal
Defense Fund who represented Save the Manatee Club and the Florida Wildlife
Federation. The two groups and some of their officers went to court in
1998 arguing that regulations adopted by the fish and wildlife board weren't
subject to administrative challenges. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003
Naples
News All rights reserved.
Hearing on county's rural growth plan ends, but both sides
'hopeful' to continue negotiations
An administrative hearing on a challenge to
Collier County's new plan for rural growth ended Thursday, but the
back-and-forth might be just starting. A state official defending the plan
and a leader of the opposition said after Thursday's wrap-up that they are
"hopeful" that their behind-the-scenes talks could lead to the start
of serious settlement negotiations. Collier County and two environmental
groups rejected an offer from opponents before the hearing started in December
to begin negotiations, saying the two sides were too far apart. Mike
McDaniel, an administrator in the community planning division of the state
Department of Community Affairs, said Thursday that there has been
"significant movement" by opponents since that earlier offer. He would
not elaborate. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
4-December-02
2 Water Test Revision Triggers
Litigation
Environmental regulators in
Florida, armed with controversial new state standards for determining
whether water bodies are polluted, are giving a clean bill of health to
dozens of waterways that are no cleaner today than they were six months
ago. The only change is the more industry-friendly scientific
standards. Now, environmental groups across Florida are going to
federal court in hopes of forcing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to take a position on whether the new methods change the state's water
quality standards, which would violate the federal Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit filed late Monday is environmentalists' latest maneuver to
derail what they consider a continuing effort by Florida regulators to
delay cleanup of some of the state's most polluted waters. The new
state rule, which became effective June 10, calls for Florida's water
bodies to be re-evaluated using the more-exacting scientific standards to
determine whether they are polluted. The state's first round of
testing resulted in the removal of 162 water bodies or stream segments
from the impaired waters list. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2002 Tampa
Tribune All rights reserved.
3-December-02
List of the organizations expected to
file Amicus Briefs
The following is the current list of the organizations who
have requested permission to join the South Florida Water Management District in
their petition to the U.S. Supreme Court against Friends of the
Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The case involves
the continued illegal dumping of polluted water into the Everglades by the
District. All of the following have filed Amicus Briefs (more are expected):
City of New York
National League of Cities
Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies
National Association of Flood And Stormwater Management Agencies
Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies
National Water Recourses Association
Western Coalition of Arid States
Western Urban Water Coalition
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Lake Worth Drainage District
Florida Association of Special Districts
Pacific Legal Foundation
Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association
Florida Farm Bureau
American Farm Bureau Federation
Charles H. Bronson, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture
For more information about the suit and its history, please
visit the Friends of the Everglades website: www.everglades.org
Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003 Friends
of Everglades All rights reserved.
23-July-02
Court denies motion to clarify tax decision
The Florida Supreme Court has denied a request to
clarify its decision allowing non-polluters to pay an
Everglades cleanup tax or to rehear arguments in the
case. The ruling, issued Friday, could be the end of the
line for a court battle to remove an Everglades tax
charged to property owners in the area covered by the
South Florida Water Management District.
Read more...
Copyright © 2002 Sun-Sentinel All rights reserved.
28-August-01
(Filed on 08-Feb-01)
BARLEY vs. SFWMD
The Supreme Court of Florida accepts
jurisdiction and sets calendar for oral argument
Case No.: SC00-1998 Lower Tribunal No.: 5D98-3178
MARY BARLEY, ETC., ET AL. vs. SOUTH FLORIDA WATER
MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Petitioners Respondents
ORDER ACCEPTING JURISDICTION AND SETTING ORAL ARGUMENT
The Court has accepted jurisdiction of this case and
will hear oral argument at 9:00 a.m. TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2001. A maximum
of TWENTY minutes to the side is allowed, but counsel is expected to use
only so much of that time as is necessary. Petitioners' brief on the
merits shall be served on or before MARCH 5, 2001; Respondent's brief on
the merits shall be served 20 days after service of petitioners' brief on
the merits; and petitioners' reply brief on the merits shall be served 20
days after service of respondent's brief on the merits. Please file an
original and seven copies of all briefs. UNLESS BRIEFS ARE TIMELY FILED,
THE PRIVILEGE OF ORAL ARGUMENT WILL BE FORFEITED. The Clerk of the
District Court of Appeal, FIFTH District, shall file the original record
on or before MARCH 26, 2001. NO CONTINUANCES WILL BE GRANTED EXCEPT UPON A
SHOWING OF EXTREME HARDSHIP.
HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE AND QUINCE, JJ., concur.
LEWIS, J., dissents.
[signed] Thomas D. Hall Clerk, Supreme Court
Served: HON. FRANK J. HABERSHAW, CLECK JON MILS PAUL L.
NETTLETON REBECCA O'HARA RICHARD A. KELLER RUTH P. CLEMENTS WILLIAM L.
HYDE
Notes:
The above notice is posted here in pdf download format
under February 2001: http://www.flcourts.org/sct/clerk/Review%20Granted/index.html
Fifth District Court of Appeal opinions are not online.
To watch/hear oral arguments live: http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel/
14-August-02
Environmental Groups Sue Over Illegal
Last Minute Legislation
© Earthjustice
Tallahassee,
FL-- Earthjustice filed suit today
challenging a new Florida law that severely restricts the rights of
ordinary citizens to dispute government decisions that affect their
environment. The highly unpopular bill passed in the final hours of the
last legislative session, after being cobbled together with an unrelated
bill that was likely to pass. The suit was filed on behalf of the Sierra
Club, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, Florida
Wildlife Federation, Manasota 88, Save the Manatee Club, and Tom Reese.
The complaint claims that the law violates the Florida Constitution
because it deals with two unrelated topics. “This
law seeks specifically to favor the interests of large corporations over
the ordinary Floridian,” said David Guest of Earthjustice. “All
citizens have the right to question their government, and we don’t
intend to let an unconstitutional law take that right away.” Read
more
30-July-02
Earthjustice Files
Suit To Protect Okeechobee
© Earthjustice
Tallahassee, FL--
Earthjustice today filed suit in response to the continued failure of the
South Florida Water Management District to obtain permits for the
discharge of pollutants into Lake Okeechobee. Filed on behalf of the
Florida Wildlife Federation, today’s suit was triggered after the
Management District was given more than sixty days written notice of
violations of the Clean Water Act and failed to make any changes.. “It
is just shameful that the South Florida Water Management District pumps
water with oil, grease, urban runoff, and other pollutants into Lake
Okeechobee, “ said David Guest, managing attorney for Earthjustice’s
Tallahassee office. “The Water Management District is required under the
Clean Water Act to obtain a National Pollution Discharge Elimination
System permit before allowing the discharge of pollutants from pump
stations they operate in Lake Okeechobee. However the District has never
been issued a permit or even bothered to apply for one. We want the
District to follow the law like everyone else has to.” Read
more
06-June-01
Governor
Bush and Cabinet May be Last Hope for Critically Ill
Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee Close To Point Of No Return
© Earthjustice
TALLAHASSEE,
FL-- Reacting to the
critically ill nature of Lake Okeechobee, leading
Florida environmental groups today appealed to Florida
Governor Jeb Bush and the Cabinet to order a halt to the
pumping of polluted water into the ecologically fragile
lake. The groups asked the Governor and Cabinet to
reverse a March 27 decision by the South Florida Water
Management District to backpump nutrient-rich water into
the lake, which is already severely polluted.
Earthjustice, Environmental Land Use Law Center, Florida
Audubon Society, Florida Wildlife Federation, and
Friends of Lake Okeechobee all are participating in
today’s action. "Backpumping
is devastating for the aquatic life in Lake
Okeechobee," said Ansley Samson, an attorney with
Earthjustice. "The lake is already in such critical
condition, it’s on the verge of becoming a complete
dead zone. This intentional addition of pollution is
short-sighted and potentially catastrophic, and the
Governor and Cabinet need to step in now to stop it
before it’s too late." Read
more
01-June-01
8.5 Square Mile Area: Everglades Flood Migitation
Project Moves Ahead On Time and On Budget
When Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt mentions a
specific flood-control project at the annual Everglades
Coalition Conference, there is a good chance the project
is important to many people.
By Chuck Sinclair and
Richard Gibney
© Stormwater
Feature
The 8.5 Square
Mile Area (SMA), a component of the Modified Water
Deliveries to Everglades National Park Project, has long
been a source of controversy associated with the
Everglades restoration. It has been referred to in
public forums as the linchpin of the entire Everglades
restoration initiative because of the political
wrangling between public agencies, environmental groups,
civic organizations, and Native American tribes. Despite
its name, the 8.5 SMA is an area of approximately 10
mi.2 in Miami-
Dade County, FL, consisting of agricultural,
residential, and undeveloped land. It sits in the East
Everglades, on the eastern edge of Everglades National
Park (ENP) and just west of the flood-protection levees
that separate the natural Everglades system and the
suburbs of Metropolitan Miami. Landowners have been
allowed to develop the property since the 1970s despite
the absence of flood protection for the area. In 1989,
federal law mandated that flood mitigation be provided
to ensure that the area would
be unaffected by future increased restoration flows to
the eastern Everglades. Read
more
07-March-01
Settlement
Will Reduce Lake Okeechobee Pollution by 70 Percent
© Earthjustice
Tallahassee,
FL-- Earthjustice today
announced that as a result of a settlement agreement
with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection,
there will be a 70 percent reduction of phosphorus
pollution permitted into Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee
County, Florida. Today’s announcement is the
culmination of a four-year effort by Earthjustice on
behalf of Florida Wildlife Federation and National
Wildlife Federation to clean up and improve water
quality in Lake Okeechobee. "This
is excellent science by the Department of Environmental
Protection and it’s a milestone toward protecting the
lake," said David Guest, lead attorney for
Earthjustice. "For years now, there’s been almost
400 tons annually of phosphorus being absorbed into this
most vital lake. It’s been much too much for the lake
to handle, and it has been slowly dying. Because it is
such an important body of water for all Floridians, what
we’ve accomplished here today is huge." Read
more
May-00
Group sues EPA over Everglades Act
MIAMI -- A South Florida conservation group sued the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, accusing the agency of violating federal law by
allowing polluted water from farms near Lake Okeechobee to continue flowing
south into the Everglades. The group, Friends of the Everglades, alleges that the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) approval last year of a controversial state pollution
law violates the federal Clean Water Act. At issue is the state's Everglades
Forever Act. Passed in 1994, the law sets a December 2006 deadline for achieving
dramatic reductions in loads of phosphorus flowing into the River of Grass from
the sprawling agricultural area near Lake Okeechobee. Read
more..
U.S. Water News Online
09-Sep-99
Miccosukee challenge federal Everglades Restoration Plan by filing a lawsuit against the
Army Corps of Engineers, in federal court alleging they illegally altered the plan without
public participation.
Aug-99
Water managers
settle with Indian tribe, cancel buyout plan
WEST PALM BEACH – South
Florida water managers settled the suit with the
Miccosukee Indian Tribe over a controversial plan to buy
and flood private land on the fringes of the Everglades
in an effort to restore natural water flow to the park.
The suit alleged that the water management district
violated the state Open Meetings Law by secretly
negotiating the plan. (Brechner Report, April,
1999)
The settlement, unanimously
approved by the water board, nullifies the buyout plan
and provides for a new investigation of the issue. It
preserves the board’s option to again vote for a full
buyout or any other option it thinks would best solve
the Everglade’s restoration problem. The
Miccosukees favor an alternative plan proposed by the
Army Corps of Engineers, providing for a drainage ditch
and protective levee around the area properties instead
of dismantling them. (6/25/99)
The
Brechner Report, Volume
23, Number 8, August 1999
1997
Barley v. SFWMD, CI-97-10228, Florida Circuit Court
Tax payer class action suit
alleges violation of Polluter Pays Amendment (number 5) to Florida
Constitution. Plaintiffs seek several
declarations, among them, that the 0.1 mill ad valorem tax assessments levied by the
SFWMD pursuant to the Everglades
Forever Act to abate Everglades Agricultural Area pollution and the
additional ad valorem tax
assessments levied under the SFWMD's general ad valorem taxing authority for
other pollution abatement costs
attributable to EAA polluter, violate the amendment.
Photo
Credit
Copyright © 2002 Naples
News All rights reserved.
