Pump and Circumstance

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will hear a case about the Florida Everglades that tests the scope of the federal government's ability to fight pollution. At issue is how much power the feds have in controlling the amount of water pumped across the Everglades basin. State water managers say they should not be required to get federal permits for water pump facilities, but an appeals court disagreed, ruling in favor of environmentalists and a Native American tribe in a decision the water managers say "could cause serious operational and economic problems for hundreds of thousands of dam, and dam-like, facilities in this country." The Supreme Court will hear the case during its next session. In the meantime, the federal government and the state of Florida will continue to work on a 30-year, $7.8 billion plan to restore some 2.4 million acres of the Everglades.