Judge Alan Gold: EPA Must Enforce Anti-Pollution Rules, Florida Has Failed To Protect Everglades

MIAMI -- The state of Florida has failed to protect the threatened Everglades and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must step in to enforce anti-pollution rules, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold's decision gives the EPA greater authority over water permits affecting discharges from sugar growers, farms and businesses, which are largely responsible for phosphorous-laden fertilizer runoff that is choking the vast wetlands. The EPA last year proposed a new cleanup plan largely opposed by the state.

But Gold, who noted that Everglades restoration has been the subject of court battles for 25 years, said that protecting the area is too important to be derailed by complaints that cleanup is too costly or politically unfeasible.

"There is no possibility of reversing the damage that has been done to the Everglades, and there is only the chance to preserve what remains in its current state," he wrote in a 76-page ruling.

The decision was harshly critical of the state's handling of the Everglades' problems, including Republican Gov. Rick Scott's recent request that EPA drop numeric limits for nutrients such as phosphorous in Florida waterways. In addition, state lawmakers several years ago made changes to the Everglades Forever Act that pushed back deadlines for reductions in phosphorous discharge.

State agencies and water managers, Gold wrote, "have not been true stewards of protecting the Everglades in recent years." His ruling effectively endorsed much of the EPA's plan unveiled last fall.

Gold set a July 1 deadline for EPA and others involved in the case to show what steps are being taken to comply with the ruling and the pollution reduction goals under the federal Clean Water Act.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the ruling but had no immediate comment. The state Department of Environmental Protection, meanwhile, said it is already pursuing an appeal.

The state agency said it was "disappointed" in the ruling, contending it amounts to "federalizing Florida's Everglades permitting process."

But environmental groups praised Gold.

"Judge Alan Gold's ruling shows that he is determined to see through the most complex environmental litigation in U.S. history," said Alan Farago, conservation chair at Friends of the Everglades.

"Judge Gold's bold and decisive decision is a stark reminder that we cannot squander the opportunity to protect America's fragile Everglades and our water supply," said Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation.

Comments

[peterz]

11:10 AM on 05/05/2011

thumbs up to Judge Gold and another thumbs down to Gov Scott....

[Caitlin Witte]

02:18 PM on 05/01/2011

I've just returned from a trip to florida to study invertebrates. The everglades restoration project is indeed stalled. They are still in what the scientists are calling "pre-restoration" phase, and are at this point only monitoring the levels of pollutants such as organophosphates. Thank you Judge Gold for having the foresight that this important project will never get past the planning stages without federal intervention.

[SarahCuda2]

10:18 AM on 04/29/2011

Can we say, "Federal Land Grab"?

Fire every single person in the EPA, construct lists of candidates chosen from college transcripts in a double blind manner for the various academic achievements needed at the EPA and then conduct a LOTTERY to offer those people jobs at the EPA, (and NASA, NOAA, etc.).

We MUST get politics OUT of science in our government or we are all doomed especially when it comes to environmentalism and paying people to trumpet a 'scientific basis' for every politically motivated 'cause' that comes along.

[wsterr]

12:33 PM on 04/29/2011

Federal regulations exist for a reason: the failure of individuals, corporations, and lower levels of government to protect something valuable to us all. All things Man does happen for a reason: usually personal gain at the expense of everyone or everything else. That is where "we the people", aggregated as the federal government need to step in and sand up for the rights of all. Judge Gold has done that by his ruling.

[SarahCuda2]

04:19 PM on 04/29/2011

Not true! Many federal regulations are the result of a POLITICAL AGENDA and have NOTHING to do with science or protecting anything. DDT is the perfect example. Why are Polar Bears on the endangered species list when their population level is at a record HIGH?

[REMEMBER2050]

06:50 PM on 04/29/2011

Great post. I was really enthused by one tiny step against the insane ongoing daily attacks we normally see to derail the EPA. By the way, Sarah, who also responded to you, is a Tea Partier who you can categorize as either unusually enthusiastic or plain old vicious depending on your own politics, and this particular response is just like all her other ones.

[hogtown]

12:40 AM on 05/01/2011

"We MUST get politics OUT of science in our government"
SarahCuda2

You mean like what happens when 'libertarian think-tank,' 'sound science' front groups paid by Exxon leverage their government cronies in the white house to fire EPA officials?

That sounds a lot like politics in government. Too bad it's your side doing it.

[cabinetmaniac]

09:14 AM on 04/29/2011

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold is my newest hero.

Rick Scott is trying to get rid of the EPA oversight so he and his cronies can exploit Florida's sensitive environmental areas.

☮

[rainkitty]

06:52 AM on 04/29/2011

Republicans for Environmental Protection Blast GOP for Assault on Clean Air Act:
"It's important to remember that not all Republicans want to de-fund the EPA, roll back the Clean Air Act, and allow climate change to continue unperturbed. That may be the public party platform of elected GOP officials in the House and the Senate about now, but there are still indeed regular old conservative citizens who think what elected Republicans are trying to do to the environment is crazy. And some of them, like the Republicans for Environmental Protection, are straight up pissed off. "
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/republicans-for-environmental-protection-blast-gop-clean-air-act.php

http://www.rep.org/opinions/press_releases/release11-4-7.html

[SarahCuda2]

10:19 AM on 04/29/2011

When the EPA can PROVE that CO2 is a greater pollutant than clean water then they can add it to the list.

[Daniel Jackson Freed]

09:27 PM on 04/28/2011

I think this was a wise choice. I'll admit I'm critical of some federal regulations, yet I see a greater good in increasing the power of an organization committed to protecting the environment. It's nice to see a federal judge enforcing EPA guidelines and not gubernatorial requests.

[Deep Thinking Man]

05:08 PM on 04/28/2011

GO GETTUM Judge Gold !!!!!...do sugar growers, farms and big businesses, all of them, know there is such a thing as NATURAL fertilizers etc that COULD BE used ???...ruining the Everglades and all Nature will benefit no one !!!!!!...mineral mining, oil drilling etc does every bit the damage as does man-made chemicals !!!!!! let's hope that more law-makers will have the spine to care !!!!!!

[klroutt]

09:53 PM on 04/27/2011

"protecting the area is too important to be derailed by complaint's that cleanup is too costly or politically unfeasible [according to U.S. District Judge Alan Gold].

The area could have been protected better years and years ago, before whatever busienss decisions were made to pollute and kick the problem down the road. Perhaps with the state of the economy and decreases in revenues, it is too costly. But that is not an excuse not to do it at all.

It's never to late to improve anything.

[nevernot]

01:02 PM on 04/27/2011

Suck it Scott.... We all see through your corporatist bs now, even the courts know how crap you are.

[GeeziePeezie]

11:22 AM on 04/27/2011

And in the year MCXVII, the Knights Trumplar made it their duty to hide the sacred certificate, holding it in secret until the emergence of the Good President in the year MMCXI, at which time the Donald Trumplar was exposed as a fraud.

[GeeziePeezie]

11:24 AM on 04/27/2011

oops... wrong thread! F&F?

[kareemachan]

12:24 PM on 04/27/2011

It was funny, tho!

[ThePeoriaKid]

11:01 AM on 04/27/2011

Excellent news! Thanks Judge Gold!

Save the 'Glades!

[1southernbelle]

10:38 AM on 04/27/2011

Mercy, a third ray of sanity in two days. Is there hope after all?

[ckevere]

10:18 AM on 04/27/2011

Finally, a federal judge with a conscience and a pair of balls.

[HLL]

12:21 PM on 04/27/2011

Finally indeed. Hooray! ;-) ☮

[MamacitaOfLove]

10:00 AM on 04/27/2011

Thanks for standing up for Mother Earth!

[Robert Frank]

09:55 AM on 04/27/2011

the EPA should ALWAYS trump the states and their lame excuses...and the EPA should enforce the rules every time not just when its convenient or to please some big-money corporation

[SarahCuda2]

10:21 AM on 04/29/2011

Come back and tell us that AFTER EPA politically motivated policies have destroyed our economy and you are begging for food in the streets.

[Caitlin Witte]

02:15 PM on 05/01/2011

We will indeed be begging for food in the streets when the everglades and important habitats like them are destroyed by lack of federal protection. Do you realize that marine estuaries like those in florida serve as the nursery grounds for 90% of commercial fisheries - fisheries that are already in peril due to overfishing and ocean habitat degradation. If that's not good enough for you, coastal wetlands serve as a barrier against tidal influx during hurricane season, protecting florida agriculture from destruction. they are also important for water filtration and as CO2 sinks, but you probably don't believe in water pollution or climate change.