Reported
by: Associated Press
Last Update: 6/04 2:46 pm
ATLANTA, GA -- A federal
appeals court has reversed a judge's ruling that Florida water managers
violated the Clean Water Act by pumping contaminated water from farmland into Lake Okeechobee.
Thursday's decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hinged on what a
three-judge panel termed the "ambiguous" language of the federal
anti-pollution law.
The judges said they had no choice but to accept the Environmental Protection
Agency's interpretation that transferring polluted water from one navigable
body to another does not require a permit.
The decision overturned a 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Cecilia M.
Altonaga of Miami, who concluded that the South Florida Water Management
District failed to obtain the necessary permits for backpumping operations.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)