A federal judge last week refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by environmentalists that implicates the state of Florida in manatee deaths in recent years in the eastern part of the state.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection was sued by environmentalist group Bear Warriors United in 2022. The organization alleges that the state violated the Endangered Species Act by not properly regulating sewage runoff in the Indian River Lagoon, which contributed to the disappearance of seagrass and left manatees to starve and die.
The state filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, with lawyers citing a series of concerns about standing, including that the government would not be able to grant relief in this issue. District Judge Carlos Mendoza last Wednesday denied the motion in a 30-page ruling.
“The Court can easily conclude that if this Court were to find in favor of Plaintiff, it is likely that fewer protected manatees would be harmed by pollutive sewage,” Mendoza wrote in the ruling.
