Three sugar-farming companies have lost their appeal to a lawsuit they lost against the Army Corps of Engineers over how much Lake Okeechobee water is available to them for crop irrigation.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, issued an opinion Tuesday in favor of the Army Corps’ position on the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir.
U.S. Sugar Corp., Okeelanta Corp. (Florida Crystals) and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative argued that Congress promised them a certain amount of water in a “savings clause” in the Water Resources Development Act it passed in 2000. However, the Army Corps held less water in the lake per the management plan it wrote in 2008, called the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS).
“We agree with the district court that the (Army) Corps did not violate the savings clause when it approved andauthorized the EAA Project using the LORS 2008 baseline,” the appeals court ruled.
U.S. Sugar Corp. is “still reviewing the court’s decision,” but is “disappointed in the ruling,” company spokesperson Ryan Duffy said.
Sugar farmers wanted to recoup the 500,000 acre feet of water they say they lost. That’s over 1 foot of water off the 730-square-mile lake and equates to about 1 million Olympic swimming pools.
Four governments, two chambers of commerce and six environmental nonprofits filed legal documents supporting the Army Corps because they worried the lawsuit would:
The Everglades Law Center was one of the interested parties that filed an “amicus brief” supporting the Army Corps. Stuart co-signed the brief and donated $10,000 to the nonprofit.
“If the savings clause were to be enshrined in law as loosely interpreted as the sugar companies would like, what happens is flood control, water quality, recreation, all the other priorities get swept to the wayside,” Ben Hogarth told TCPalm in November 2023 when he was the Stuart city spokesperson. “There is no doubt in my mind: You are bringing about absolute disaster across the board.”
The sugar companies sued the Army Corps on Aug. 26, 2021, but U.S. Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled in favor of the Army Corps in March. The sugar companies appealed in May and sued the Army Corps again in November 2023.
“Congress passed a law that requires that the federal government will ‘restore, preserve and protect the South Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection,’ ” U.S. Sugar Corp. spokesperson Ryan Duffy said on behalf of all the plaintiffs and legal supporters in November 2023. “The actions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have run afoul of this law and we have filed suit to ensure that the law of the land passed by Congress is followed.”
U.S. Sugar Corp. said it could tap reservoirs to recoup its 500,000 acre feet, but the EAA reservoir the Army Corps is building will hold 240,000 acre feet of Lake O water — only half of what sugar wants.
The water the sugar companies want historically flowed south to replenish the Everglades. Their “distorted interpretation of the savings clause would cripple” Everglades restoration, the South Florida Water Management District said in its brief supporting the Army Corps.
“Everglades restoration was never intended to be the guarantor of water supply for the sugar industry or any industry,” Everglades Law Center Policy Director Lisa Interlandi told TCPalm in November 2023. “We recognize that if this position were adopted, that Everglades restoration would not end up with any water. The water would have to be held to be a backup water supply for the sugar industry.”
The 78.2 billion gallon EAA reservoir being built on 10,500 acres south of Lake O is estimated to reduce Lake O discharges to the rivers by as much as 63%, combined with other water projects.
If the sugar companies had won, the Army Corps would have had to had to rewrite LOSOM and redesign the EAA reservoir, which would have delayed its constructions, Interlandi said.
Tim O’Hara is TCPalm’s environment reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: U.S. Sugar Corp. loses lawsuit against Army Corps over EAA Reservoir
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