Lake O discharges: Sugar farmers sue Army Corps over EAA reservoir. Will it delay project?
Ed Killer
Three sugar-farming companies have filed similar lawsuits that could delay construction of the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir designed to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River, according to language in their complaints.
U.S. Sugar Corp., Okeelanta Corp. (Florida Crystals) and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative filed suit Thursday against the Army Corps of Engineers.
The dispute is over the amount of irrigation water they're allowed to take from Lake O — water that historically flowed south to replenish the thirsty Everglades.
The Corps is scheduled to seek construction bids next month for the 10,500-acre 78.2 billion gallon EAA reservoir, which combined with other projects is estimated to alleviate as much as 63% of Lake O discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
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What is the savings clause?
The Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (WRDA) promised farmers a certain amount of irrigation water from Lake O, referred to as the "savings clause."
The lawsuit claims the Corps' EAA reservoir design "unlawfully ignored" the savings clause by cutting the amount of irrigation water farmers can take from the lake.
"U.S. Sugar remains a staunch supporter of Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Projects," the suit states, "but it has witnessed a failure by the Corps to adhere to WRDA 2000’s requirements."
Col. Andrew Kelly, the Corps' Florida commander for the Jacksonville district, defended the EAA reservoir project Friday.
"As we propose, develop and work through all of our projects, we go through these deliberate processes to put infrastructure in the ground in the right place," he said. "We are deliberate and cautious with how we deal with it. We are confident it is a good one and we work with our partners to make sure."
It remains to be seen whether the lawsuit will delay construction.
"We are absolutely committed to putting infrastructure in the ground for ecosystem restoration and committed to maintain the balance for all Floridians," Kelly said. "We are continuing and committed to make Lake Okeechobee water management the best we can and continuing the ecosystem restoration for the Everglades."
Critics disputed the merits of the lawsuit.
"These lawsuits look like another obstructionist move by the sugarcane industry, which consistently places its corporate profits above the water resources of the people of Florida," said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades.
U.S. Sugar Corp. holdings
U.S. Sugar owns and farms about 245,000 acres of farmland in Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach and Martin counties, according to the lawsuit.
"U.S. Sugar grows sugarcane, oranges, sweet corn and winter vegetables, relying on water from Lake Okeechobee to grow its crops," the suit states. "Dependent on weather and growing conditions, U.S. Sugar produces over 8 million tons of sugarcane each year, providing approximately 10% of all sugar produced in America."
In 2020, U.S. Sugar’s food production included:
- 1.8 billion pounds of pure cane sugar.
- 150 million glasses of orange juice
- 145 million ears of sweet corn (2.2 million crates)
- 78 million pounds of watermelon
- 26 million heads of lettuce
- 24 million pounds of green beans.
In 2008, U.S. Sugar agreed to shutter the business, lay off workers and sell all its land holdings to the state for $1.75 billion, including 187,000 acres, its sugar cane refinery and its narrow-gauge railroad line.
The deal, negotiated by then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, was celebrated as a huge win to restore the historic natural flow of water from Lake O to the thirsty Everglades. But it fell apart, in part because the 2008-09 Great Recession.
The South Florida Water Management District did pay $194 million for 26,800 acres — 17,900 acres of citrus land in Hendry County and 8,900 acres of sugar cane in Palm Beach County — and had the option to buy all 187,000 acres within 10 years.
In 2015, then-Gov. Rick Scott instructed the SFWMD board not to buy the land. Kevin Powers, the then-board member representing the Treasure Coast, made the motion to irrevocably terminate the option.
The plan to construct the EAA reservoir, approved by the State of Florida in 2017, officially terminated the option. The lead legislator who created the EAA reservoir was former state Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart, Negron, R-Stuart, who left Gunster Law in Jan. 2017 to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest with his proposal to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges. U.S. Sugar Corp., a longtime Gunster client, at the time opposed the bill, which became law in May.
Gunster filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of U.S. Sugar Corp.
Ed Killer is TCPalm's outdoors writer. Sign up for his and other weekly newsletters at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage. Friend Ed on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter @tcpalmekiller or email him ated.killer@tcpalm.com.