TALLAHASSEE, Florida — An environmental group has filed a legal challenge to a proposed limestone rock mine and water storage reservoir that they say will threaten the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir north of Lake Okeechobee.
Details: The Tropical Audubon Society and two individuals filed a request with the Department of Environmental Protection for a legal hearing on the proposed permit providing conceptual approval for the 8,632-acre Palm Beach County project.
Phillips & Jordan, a national construction contractor, calls it the Southland Water Resource Project and says it can hold up to 40 billion gallons of needed Everglades water storage. But environmentalists say it’s a rock mine that will upset the hydrology underpinning the nearby EAA reservoir.
“It threatens to undermine decades of Everglades restoration progress, degrade water quality, and jeopardize wildlife habitat, while offering no proven benefit to the public,” Tropical Audubon Society’s Lauren Jonaitis said in an announcement Tuesday.
