A lawsuit against limestone mining in the wetlands was moved from Washington to Florida.
By Associated Press
Published January 1, 2004
MIAMI - U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler, who was removed from a lawsuit on the giant Florida Everglades restoration project, has been assigned a lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the Army Corps of Engineers over limestone mining in the Everglades.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ordered the case transferred Tuesday from Washington to the Southern District of Florida based on a motion by mining industry officials. The case will now be heard by Hoeveler.
Hoeveler was removed from the Everglades restoration case in September following complaints from sugar growers that he favored environmental groups.
The limestone lawsuit was brought in August 2002 to overturn a decision that would allow continued limestone mining in 5,409 acres on the edge of the Everglades for the next 10 years.
The groups - the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association - say the permits endanger drinking water and harm the multibillion-dollar federal effort to revive the expansive wetlands area. The quarries, in central Miami-Dade County bordering Everglades National Park, have been mined since the 1950s.
The Army Corps of Engineers announced its decision in April 2002 to issue permits allowing 10 companies to pay $46-million in fees to more than double the amount of limestone quarries in the wetlands. The federal government plans to use the fees to buy and improve another 7,500 acres of wetlands near the Everglades.
The environmental groups claim the Corps and the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service violated several major environmental laws. Mining industry officials have said the extra rock pits are needed to ensure enough affordable limestone.
