The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has been blasted by
politicians, environmentalists and the press in recent months for
failing to use its authority to address global warming, also failed to
protect Florida’s Everglades, according to a ruling made by a federal
judge Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ruled in a law suit filed against
the EPA in 2004 that the agency failed to adhere to the rules of the
Clean Water Act, and instead turned a "blind eye" as Florida delayed
its committment to clean up the vast wetlands area.
Gold said the EPA acted "arbitrarily and capriciously," in
allowing Florida to avoid pollution compiance deadlines in 2003, when
state legislators amended the 1994 Everglades Forever Act. The
amendment pushed back a deadline for reducing phosphorous pollution
from 2006 to 2016. The deadline had already been extended once from
2002.
The phosphorous pollution is largely due to fertilizer runoff from farms and development in the region.
The suit was brought agains the EPA by the Miccosukee Indians, who live in the Everglades and Friends of the Everglades.
Read more coverage by the Associated Press.
In releated news, Four Democratic senators on Tuesday called for the resignation
of Stephen Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency and asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate
whether Johnson lied in testimony to a Senate committee.
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