Florida NPDES Permitting and
the EvergladesThe Supreme Court will be hearing a case on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting this spring which may have a major impact on the Everglades restoration. However, preliminary indications from a brief filed by a Solicitor General of the United States sides with Florida in the assumption that NPDES permitting is not required to discharge suburban and agricultural runoff into the Everglades. The suit had been brought by the Miccosukee Indian Tribe and Friends of the Everglades, who were represented by Earthjustice.
The dispute between the defendant (the South Florida Water Management District) and the plaintiffs regards a pumping station which transfers water from a canal to a water conservation area. The plaintiffs contend that the water coming from the pumping station adds pollutants which are not present in the receiving waters, which means the water district must obtain an NPDES permit. The water management district contends that the pump is merely conveying the water, for which a permit is not necessary.
The United States’ position rebukes the decision of the district and appellate courts, which had concluded that the pumping station was the “cause-in-fact” of the presence of pollutants in the conservation area. The brief argued that this conclusion was incorrect because a point source can’t be the cause of pollution if it’s only transferring “ordinary” water from one place to another. The brief also stated that the imposition of requiring NPDES permitting for water diversion would be unlikely to provide any substantial environmental benefit, but rather it would misdirect resources and potentially hinder restoration. (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 9/29/03).
