WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Friday it will consider a case involving the endangered Florida Everglades that tests the federal government's power to fight pollution.
Justices will consider next term how much authority the federal government has in controlling water pumping across the Everglades basin.
The Bush administration urged the court last month to reject the appeal from Florida water managers who argued they should not be required to get federal permits to pump polluted suburban water into the cleaner Everglades.
An appeals court sided with environmentalists and the Miccosukee Indian tribe in ordering the South Florida Water Management District to apply for permits.
"To us the issue is: Can a government agency take polluted water and put it into pristine water, where it would otherwise not go except for their manipulating it and pumping it? They say they can as long as they don't add the pollutant," said Dexter Lehtinen, attorney for Miccosukee Indians pushing for the permit requirement.
Former district general counsel John Fumero challenged that contention and said the issue is about federal oversight and its implications for water supply and flood control agencies.
"Florida has some of the most highly regulated and sophisticated water management regulations anywhere in the country," he said. "If there was a place in the United States that doesn't need another level of federal overreaching into the regulatory area, it's Florida."
A cost-sharing blueprint signed last year by President Bush and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, calls for spending $7.8-billion over 30 years to restore about 2.4-million acres of the Everglades ecosystem.
