The Elbert P. Tuttle Courthouse in Atlanta, GA.

On Nov. 20, oral arguments in Big Sugar’s lawsuit against the United States Army Corps of Engineers regarding the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir were presented to an appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta.

The appeal stems from Big Sugar’s initial case that began in 2021, when industrial sugar farmers claimed that the EAA Reservoir — the keystone Everglades restoration project to store and treat water before sending it south to the Everglades — would deprive them of water they feel they’re owed. The misunderstanding stems from how the water savings clause relates to water loss from reasons outside the scope of Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), in this case from a necessary lowering of the lake due to safety concerns from the previously ailing Herbert Hoover Dike.

“Their legal reasoning relies on an erroneous misinterpretation of the ‘water savings clause’ contained within the Water Resources Development Act,” said SCCF Environmental Policy Director Matt DePaolis.

Sugar’s claim is that the water savings clause serves as an insurance policy for water users against any unidentified future harm, while the law clearly states that this savings clause only applies to water diverted by projects in CERP. Their claim tries to falsely draw a connection between the water that was removed under LORS08 (not a CERP project) with the EAA Reservoir (a CERP project). The judge in the lower court agreed, finding in favor of the Army Corps, leading to the current appeal.

“Now, the Sugar industry’s appeal to the Eleventh Circuit is their attempt to receive a ruling that would allow them to claim ownership over the water within the taxpayer-funded EAA Reservoir, as well as any further water earmarked for restoration until the water allotted to them is restored to pre-dike restoration levels,” DePaolis said. “This would mean that water loss in the system from any source, whether it is climate change, drought, or a hole opening in the bottom of Lake Okeechobee would need to be replaced by taxpayer-funded Everglades projects prior to any restoration occurring.”

SCCF along with 10 other local government and advocacy groups have joined in the case by filing an amicus brief in support of the Army Corps.

Once fully online, the EAA Reservoir — in conjunction with other CERP projects — will reduce the amount of damaging discharges to our estuaries, increase the amount of water we can send south to the Everglades where it is needed, and build more resilience into the greater Everglades ecosystem that is critical to our water quality, wildlife, and human communities.

For more information, please click here to read the writeup done by our partners at Captains for Clean Water.