Professor Weisskoff
FSS 199
2 November 2000
As I sat in on Mr. Alberto F. Montero Valdes’s lecture on the Everglades and its legalities, I couldn’t help but be extremely interested with what he had to say. Not only was I not familiar with our legal system, I had no idea the depth that the Everglades has gone in reference to laws and statutes. Being a native of the area, I feel ashamed that I am not aware of the problems that exist in the Everglades. Mr. Valdes opened my eyes in regards to how our legal system works when different lawsuits are brought up in court.
To
begin, I must give a critique of Mr. Valdes’s presentation. From the moment we walked in, we all felt
welcomed as we peered over the long table and saw the various drinks and
goodies he provided us with. I know for
most everyone in the class, it was a nice touch to help keep our focus. Also, he expressed an interest in us as he
went around the room asking everyone their names, where they’re from, they’re
major, and why they are taking FSS 199.
I felt as though he actually wanted to be there with us, and that it
wasn’t just another presentation that he had to give. With regards to his presentation, he kept my attention throughout
the entire hour that he spoke. That is
usually unheard of when you’re listening to a speaker who’s quite proficient
with any and everything that involves the Everglades. The first thing he touched on were the legal facts such as what a
defendant and plaintiff are. I know
it’s the basics, but for a lot of people in the group it was the first time
ever listening to definitions of those words.
The plaintiff is the person who files the lawsuit against the
defendant. We also went step by step
with how cases are either civil or criminal.
“Civil cases are those in which
individuals, corporations or government agencies seek to recover damages,
enforce their rights or otherwise protect a legal interest from interference by
another. Crimes are divided into two
categories: felonies (for which a prison sentence exceeding one year may be
imposed) and misdemeanors (for which the maximum prison term is one year)” (http://www.nysba.org/public/courts.html).
The following thing we learned
was how to read an actual case. We
identified the case number, jurisdiction, and who the judge was. In this case,
the plaintiff the United States of America, and the defendant was the South Florida
Water Management District. This case
was heard in the district court of Miami.
The problem in this case is when the SFWMD “uses its pumps and canals in
conjunction with privately owned feeder systems to drain the basin during the
wet season and irrigate crops during the dry season. As a result of heavy fertilizer use and bad water management,
tons of pollutants (including nutrient pollutants) are dumped into the public
conveyance system and sent southward….to the Everglades” (http://www.law.miami.edu/everglades). This flow of polluted water has had a profound effect on the
Everglades. It has resulted in the
destruction of aquatic life that are essential to the preservation of the
ecosystems.
The
SFWMD are mandated to do what state law says in order to make the water
standards better. Also, the delivering
of polluted water to the Everglades would not be allowed. They would have to make sure that the water
being delivered was up to code with the requirements of the 1984 contract.
The Everglades have been the center of many legal battles in the past couple decades. With more research being done and more and more focus being put on the restoration of the Everglades, every action that any department or agency undergoes will be very carefully scrutinized to make sure that what is being done is strictly in accordance with the law.