May 30, 2003

SOLICITOR'S OFFICE SAYS SUPREME COURT PETITION SHOULD BE DENIED
Recommends Supreme Court Should Deny District's Challenge in Miccosukee Case

Miccosukee Tribe of Indians Press Release

Today, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, whose members live in the Florida Everglades, hailed an Opinion of the Solicitor General of the United States, which recommends that the U.S. Supreme Court NOT hear a challenge by the South Florida Water Management District (District) to the Clean Water Act case that the Tribe won at both the district and appeals court levels. According to Dexter Lehtinen, the Tribe's General Counsel on these matters, "We are happy that the federal government agrees with the four 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judges, but we know that the District is still going to try to get the Supreme Court to get them off the hook.  The Solicitor's  Opinion is definitely a step in the right direction in ensuring that the Clean Water Act is applied to the Everglades, but it's not over yet. The Tribe continues to question how the District can tell the public they are restoring the Everglades, while they tell the U.S. Supreme Court that they don't want the Clean Water Act applied to their S-9 pump that releases polluted water into the Everglades.  It appears that the Solicitor General agrees with us."

In a 19 page Brief for the United States that was released late today, the Solicitor General recommended that District's Petition for Writ of Certiorari (No. 02-626) (in which they are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review, and reverse, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of the Tribe and Friends of the Everglades) be denied.  The Opinion says the Court of Appeals decision in the S-9 case, "does not give rise to a conflict," "does not present an issue of exceptional or nationwide importance," and is "unlikely to subject petitioner to any substantial new pollution control requirements."  The opinion by Solicitor General Theodore Olson recommended that, "The petition for writ of certiorari should be denied."

The Solicitor General's Opinion concerns the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Case No: 00-15703 which affirmed a ruling of a lower court that the South Florida Water Management  District was violating the Clean Water Act by spewing polluted urban water into the Everglades without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit on its S-9 pump. The Tribe's members live in the Everglades and their culture and way of life depend on its health.  The Tribe first filed its Clean Water Act lawsuit in federal district court in October 1999 to force the District to put a permit on its pump and clean up the water. The court agreed that the District was violating the Clean Water Act and needed a permit. Rather than comply with the court's order and clean up the pollution, the District appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found the District was violating the Clean Water Act.  Rather than comply with the Order, the District then sought review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to Miccosukee Tribal Chairman Billy Cypress, "If the District really cared about the Everglades, they would have complied with the Court's Order and the Clean Water Act years ago. Instead, they continue to waste taxpayers' money fighting against clean water for the Everglades. We hope that the Solicitor's Opinion will halt their wasteful expenditures."