U.S. Water News Online
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.
Phosphorus is a nutrient added to farm fields and lawns. But in the Everglades, phosphorus in the tiniest quantities -- measured parts per billion -- spurs devastating changes in Everglades vegetation and degrades wildlife habitat.
The lawsuit says that plans outlined under the state law are inadequate to clean up the pollution. Moreover, the suit says, the delay in imposing water quality standards allows the continued degradation of the Everglades.
The EPA reviewed the state law last year under the order of U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davis as part of a 1995 suit by the Miccosukee Tribe. The EPA found that the lengthy schedule outlined in the state law was legal and reasonable given the complexity of the cleanup. It said the law did not violate the Clean Water Act.
The group's suit challenges the EPA's ruling.
John Hankinson, the EPA's Southeast regional administrator, said his agency and the state law have made significant strides toward cleaning up the Everglades. Under the act, farmers have made progress in cleaning up their water and the EPA has approved a tough, new water quality standard for the Miccosukee reservation.
``I guess what I don't understand is how this suit helps move ahead the restoration of the Everglades,'' Hankinson said. ``So they win the suit -- what are they going to tell everybody to do?''
The big complication, according to Hankinson, is that scientists have yet to figure out what technology will clean the water well enough for the Everglades.
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