FEDERAL EVERGLADES CASE HEATS UP: STATUS
CONFERENCE MAY 19
Judge Moreno Schedules a Status Conference May
19th and a July 7th Evidentiary Hearing on the Miccosukee Tribe Motions to
Enforce the Settlement Agreement
Today the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, whose members live in the Florida Everglades, announced that the honorable Judge Federico A. Moreno will hold a status conference in the federal Everglades case on May 19th beginning at 9 AM at the United States Courthouse, Courtroom IV, Tenth Floor, Federal Justice Building, 99 NE 4th Street in Miami, Florida. The Judge has instructed Counsel to be prepared to address all pending matters that have not been referred to a magistrate at tomorrow's status conference.
In the same Order setting the May 19th status conference, Judge Moreno also set an evidentiary hearing, for July 7th in the same courtroom, again beginning at 9 A.M. The July 7th hearing is being held to present evidence relevant to the issues raised by the Miccosukee Tribe in two recent Motions: 1) The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' Motion Seeking a Declaration of Violations in Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge; and 2) the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' Motion Seeking a Declaration of Breach by the SFWMD concerning STA 3/4 deadlines.
In its Motions filed on March 31, 2004, the Tribe contends that violations and breaches of the Settlement Agreement, which was entered as a Consent Decree in 1992 to settle the 1988 federal Everglades lawsuit, have occurred and must be remedied. The Tribe has the right, through a Memorandum of Agreement ("MOA") with the federal government, to seek enforcement of the Consent Decree entered in this case and has done so through two motions. The Loxahatchee Motion asks the Court to find that the state has violated the Consent Decree by exceeding the interim phosphorous levels there; to require that the state parties report the cause of the exceedances; and to require that the SFWMD demonstrate how exceedances will be prevented in the future. The STA 3/4 Motion requests that the Court find that the SFWMD failed to meet the Consent Decree's October 1, 2003, operational deadline for STA 3/4; that the SFWMD be required to justify why the deadline was missed; and that the SFWMD be required to file a motion requesting to amend the missed deadline with justification for the earliest possible new date for STA 3/4.
The federal and state parties (SFWMD and DEP), and the agricultural interests, filed responses asking the Court to deny the Tribe's motions. Subsequently, the U.S. filed a motion to bar certain SFWMD arguments that were made in its response and which the U.S. labeled "offensive." Despite the uncharacteristic public difference of opinion between the U.S. and state parties as to the Loxahatchee exceedances, and the objections of other parties to having the Court hear the motions, the Tribe was pleased when Judge Moreno issued an Order setting both a May 19th status conference, and a July 7th evidentiary hearing to take evidence on the issues it raised in its motions.
Yesterday, the U.S., DEP and SFWMD (apparently in an attempt to show a united front at the status conference tomorrow), filed a motion reminiscent of the "Keystone Cops" in which the the SFWMD agreed to withdraw its arguments the U.S. sought to bar; the U.S. agreed to withdraw its motion to bar the arguments, and they all asked the Court to take the issues back to "closed door" mediation. The Miccosukee Tribe, whose members have lived in the Everglades for centuries and strive to protect it, will continue to pursue these issues in open Court.
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