Sugar Companies Sue Army Corps, Which Could Affect EAA Reservoir, LOSOM, Everglades
- TCPalm
- Nov 27, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 17
TC Palm, November 27, 2024
Three sugar-farming companies have appealed lawsuits they lost against the Army Corps of Engineers over how much Lake Okeechobee water is available to them for crop irrigation.
U.S. Sugar Corp., Okeelanta Corp. (Florida Crystals) and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative say Congress promised them a certain amount of water in a "savings clause" in the Water Resources Development Act it passed in 2000. However, the Army Corps held less water in the lake per the management plan it wrote in 2008, called the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS).
Sugar farmers want to recoup the 500,000 acre feet of water they say they lost. That's over 1 foot of water off the 730-square-mile lake and equates to about 1 million Olympic swimming pools.
Four governments, two chambers of commerce and six environmental nonprofits filed legal documents this month supporting the Army Corps because they worry the lawsuit will:
Oblige the agency to prioritize water supply over Everglades restoration
Delay the agency's construction of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir designed to curb Lake O discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers
Delay the agency's overhaul of LORS, called the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM).
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