Environment
Groups Sue to Overturn Corps' Limestone Permits in Everglades
(enr.construction.com
- 8/23/02)
By Tom
Ichniowski
Three major environmental organizations
have filed suit to undo Corps of Engineers permits for a limestone
mine in Florida's Everglades. The suit, filed Aug. 20 in U.S.
District Court in Washington, D.C., by the Natural Resources
Defense Council, Sierra Club and National Parks Conservation
Association, contends that Corps permits for the mine violate
the Clean Water, National Environmental Policy and Endangered
Species Acts.
The groups say that the Corps has issued 12 permit approvals
to 10 companies since it announced its April 11 decision to
approve the mining.
A spokesman at the Corps headquarters says, "Since it's
in litigation, it would be inapproprate for us to comment."
Barbara Lange, Everglades chair for Sierra Club Miami Group
says that the mining "will do incalculable damage to
this precious American natural resource."
The mining is in the Lake Belt area east of Everglades National
Park and west of Miami. After rock is mined, the Corps says,
groundwater flows into the excavations, forming the "lakes"
that give the area its name.
The Corps permit authorizes filling 5,409 acres of wetlands
in the Lake Belt and requires mining companies to pay for
acquiring and restoring 7,500 acres of wetlands. The Corps'
Jacksonville District web site says its officials "expect
no net loss of wetland functions and values, including wildlife
habitat." It also says the Corps recognizes that the
rock mined is "economically important," and used
in building homes, roads and other infrastructure.
