Appeals court rules against sugar industry in quest to secure water meant for Everglades restoration
- WGCU
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
WGCU, April 1, 2025
Florida’s sugar industry failed to convince a federal appeals court that it is the rightful owner of hundreds of billions of gallons of water that will be sent to a future reservoir that’s part of the Everglades restoration plans.
United States Sugar Corporation and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida tried to convince the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that the sugar growers, after being denied in 2008 a portion of water they take from Lake Okeechobee, deserved the same portion of water a decade for now from the Everglades super-reservoir.
It’s called the Everglades Agricultural Area, and it will encompass 17,000 acres of manmade water treatment and storage south of the big lake.
The appeals court did not agree, saying the changes imposed on the sugar industry in 2008 were made to protect public safety after Hurricane Katrina, and had nothing to do with the Everglades restoration.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the agency overseeing the Everglades restoration, was supported by more than a dozen nonprofits that work to support the effort.
“On top of this tremendous result, the court determined the sugar industry’s lawsuit to be both meritless and ‘strange’, ” Eric Eikenberg, director of the Everglades Foundation, said in a press release. “We agree.”
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