In the last few years, Everglades restoration saw real progress, but not without the sugar industry’s stiff resistance. Captains for Clean Water and other expert organizations have long touted the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir as the “crown jewel” for restoring the Everglades, as it would return the natural southerly flow of Lake Okeechobee water instead of east and west out to the coast. This project, however, threatens the sugar industry’s access to irrigation water, and the industry is putting up a legitimate fight–potentially stalling one of the single most impactful projects for South Florida’s clean water future.
The EAA Reservoir, which broke ground in February 2023, is a 16,000 acre project designed to store and naturally clean the nutrient laden excess water from Lake Okeechobee. Before this project, when Lake O became too full, water was diverted east and west, to the Callosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, fueling harmful algal blooms, ecological disasters, and millions in lost tourism dollars. Once complete, the EAA Reservoir would reduce these harmful discharges by 55%. While there is broad public support for this project and cleaning up Florida’s waterways, the sugar industry continues to put up a fight to preserve its status quo.
“This lawsuit gets to the core of the fight, which is who’s in control of the water in Florida and how is water being prioritized? Are we prioritizing water for the benefit of our residents, economy, and environment? Or, are we continuing to prioritize the irrigation supply for the industrial sugar industry, which is exactly what got us into this water crisis we’re in right now.” —Capt. Daniel Andrews, Executive Director, Captains For Clean Water.
For the last several years, the sugar industry has worked through the US legal system to stymie or flat-out halt tangible everglades restoration efforts. Specifically, the sugar industry is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the EAA Reservoir. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Eleventh Circuit heard oral arguments. Captains for Clean Water was there in Atlanta to cover the hearing–recap here.
Captains for Clean Water continues its education and advocacy efforts to defend the EAA Reservoir and end big sugar’s death grip on achieving generational progress towards a restored Everglades and clean South Florida waterways. Make your voice heard through this Captains for Clean Water action alert and stay tuned for continued updates on this critically important fight for clean water!
Cover picture from Captains for Clean Water.
Sugar Industry Lawsuit Threat to EAA Reservoir, Actionable Everglades Restoration
Anglers Driving Change: Chris Wittman & Daniel Andrews – Captains for Clean Water
Lake Okeechobee Discharges Hitting Florida’s East and West Coasts
