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    Feb 2002, decision
   
Court AFFIRMS the district court's judgment that the Water District violated the Clean Water Act, VACATE the judgment awarding the injunction, and REMANDS for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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Miccosukee Tribe    
v. South Florida Water Management District       

United States Court of Appeals 
for the Eleventh Circuit


Case No. 00-15703

 

  Appeals:  

5 to U. S. Supreme Court  No. 02-626

6  from U. S. District Court:      
No. 98-06056(7)-CV-WDF (S.D. Fla.)
    

 

 

Litigation Summary

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The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians ("the Tribe") and the Friends of the Everglades ("the Friends") (together "Plaintiffs") brought a citizen suit under the Clean Water Act ("CWA") against the South Florida Water Management District ("the Water District"). The suit alleges that the Water District was violating the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants from the S-9 pump station into Water Management District 3A without a national pollution discharge elimination system ("NPDES") permit.

The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court denied the Water District's motion, granted Plaintiffs', and enjoined the Water District from operating the S-9 pump station without an NPDES permit. The Water District appeals from the district court's order declaring unlawful the Water District's operation of the S-9 pump station without an NPDES permit and from the injunction prohibiting the same.  

Instead of issuing an injunction which cannot be rightly enforced, the district court should order the Water District to obtain an NPDES permit within some reasonable period. And, if the Water District fails to comply with this order, Plaintiffs may then seek to enforce the order through the various enforcement mechanisms available under the CWA, such as fines and criminal penalties. See 33 U.S.C. § 1319.

For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's judgment that the Water District violated the Clean Water Act, VACATE the judgment awarding the injunction, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

AFFIRMED in part, VACATED in part, and REMANDED.

 

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Everglades photograph courtesy Philip Greenspun

 


 

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Revised:  11/15/03

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