For Immediate Release
February 7, 2019
Conservation Groups Urge Governor DeSantis to Stop
SFWMD Motion to Vacate Everglades Consent Decree
Tallahassee – Today environmental organizations from around the state sent
a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis to urge him to direct the South Florida Water
Management District (SFWMD) to withdraw its motion to vacate the consent decree
that has been the engine that has driven clean water protections for Everglades
National Park for three decades:
February 7, 2019
The Honorable Ron DeSantis
The Florida Capitol
400 S. Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Dear Governor DeSantis:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations,
we appreciate the strong commitments made within your first month as Governor
on the importance of advancing Everglades restoration and solving Florida’s
ongoing water crisis. We stand ready to work with your Administration to
achieve our shared goals for restoring the Everglades and improving water
quality across the state.
In keeping with these strong commitments, we
urge you to direct the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to
withdraw its motion to vacate the consent decree that has been the engine
driving water protections for Everglades National Park for three decades.
Originally filed in 1988 by the United States
and immediately joined by several major environmental organizations, the case
sought to stop pollution of the Everglades, including the Arthur R. Marshall
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park. Drainage
pumps operated by SFWMD were pumping massive quantities of fertilizer-laden
runoff from agricultural fields into the Everglades. After extensive settlement
negotiations, a settlement agreement was reached by the parties in 1991 and
then amended in 1995. Under the Amended consent decree, regulatory measures to
reduce fertilizer runoff and the construction of artificial marshes –
“Stormwater Treatment Areas” – were supposed to bring a halt to fertilizer
pollution of the Everglades by the end of 2006. That deadline was not met and
over the past dozen years, the sugar industry has made repeated efforts in the
Legislature, in court, and in lobbying the District and the Governor’s Office
to lift the requirements of the consent decree. To date, those efforts have
been turned back by the federal court because of opposition from the Justice Department under
Republican and Democratic administrations alike, and opposition from the Miccosukee
Tribe, the environmental organizations that are parties to the case, and the
wider Everglades restoration advocacy community.
On Thursday, November 8, 2018 – two days
after you were elected to office – the SFWMD Governing Board appointed by
Governor Rick Scott, which you have recently asked to resign, voted to petition
Judge Moreno to vacate the consent decree. They did so with a clear
understanding of the significant public opposition such an action would bring
and without offering you the time to be briefed on the issue.
Vacating the consent decree represents a
tremendous threat to Everglades National Park, the Arthur R. Marshall
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and Florida Bay.
Since taking office, you have been decisive
in your commitment to bringing a “fresh start” to the SFWMD. We believe that a
Governing Board with different leadership and priorities would agree that
vacating the consent decree is a disservice to Florida’s public. As such, we
urge you to work with your new appointees to withdraw the motion to vacate the
consent decree.
Sincerely,
Alex Gillen
Policy Director
Bullsugar Alliance
John Cassani
Calusa Waterkeeper
Jaclyn Lopez
Florida Director
Center for Biological Diversity
Margaret R. Stewart
Director
Center for Earth Jurisprudence
Michael Baldwin
President
“Ding” Darling Wildlife Society
Aliki Moncrief
Executive Director
Florida Conservation Voters
Jim Gross
Executive Director
Florida Defenders of the Environment
Michael Chenoweth
President
Florida Division of the Izaak Walton League of
America
Preston T. Robertson
President & CEO
Florida Wildlife
Federation
Elinor Williams
President
Friends of Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National
Wildlife Refuge
Alan Farago
Conservation Chair
Friends of the Everglades
Robert Knight
Director
Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
Reinaldo Diaz J.D.
President
Lake Worth Waterkeeper
Tom Bausch
Board of Directors
Martin County Conservation Alliance
Mark Ferrulo
Executive Director
Progress Florida
Diana Umpierre
Organizing Representative
Sierra Club
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