Appellate Court Reverses Ruling and Ends Partial Shut-Down
ATLANTA--(Business Wire)--
A Federal Appeals Court today vacated a lower court's decisions
that invalidated mining permits in the Lake Belt area of Northwest
Miami-Dade County and shut down limestone mining operations in
approximately one-third of that area. The appellate court concluded
that the lower court rulings of March 22, 2006 and July 13, 2007 were
wrongly decided and ended a nearly 10 month shut-down of some of the
most important limestone mining operations in America.
In its decision, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded:
The district court seems to have predetermined the answer to the
ultimate issue, concluding that the Corps should not permit mining in
the Lake Belt, and analyzed the permitting process with that answer in
mind. Indeed, the court made its predetermination of the ultimate
issue explicit in its conclusion.... In other words, no matter what
the Corps concluded, and no matter what evidence supported that
conclusion, the court would have banned mining because of its own
conclusion that mining in the Lake Belt is a bad thing.
"This ruling is welcome news for Florida's economy," said Kerri
Barsh, an attorney representing three of the companies affected by the
ruling, White Rock Quarries, APAC Florida and Sawgrass Rock Quarry.
"It advances transportation projects throughout the state and puts the
environmental benefits of the Lake Belt Plan back on track."
Today's decision vacated two rulings by the lower court in the
lawsuit, Sierra Club v. Flowers. This lawsuit contended that the Army
Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not
follow proper procedures when originally issuing Lake Belt mining
permits in 2002. The first of the rulings vacated today was issued on
March 22, 2006 and it invalidated Lake Belt mining permits. The second
ruling vacated today was issued on July 13, 2007 and it imposed a
partial mining shut-down.
Today's ruling benefits the environment by putting the Lake Belt
Plan back on track. This comprehensive plan was endorsed by the late
Governor Lawton Chiles, former Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt and
former Governor Jeb Bush. It establishes specific areas for limestone
mining operations in Miami-Dade County and uses special fees paid by
mining companies in the Lake Belt to provide the funding needed for
the state to acquire, restore and preserve a 2-mile buffer protecting
the Florida Everglades. The plan also calls for quarry-lakes to become
an essential element of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
(CERP) by ultimately becoming massive water reservoirs to provide
water to nourish the famed River of Grass. The Lake Belt Plan supports
Everglades restoration, provides funding for regional drinking water,
and protects the Everglades from encroaching development while
maintaining the numerous economic benefits of Florida's limestone
industry.
The Lake Belt Area is a 78 square mile region located on the
western edge of Miami-Dade County's urbanized area. Named for the
quarry-lakes created when limestone is excavated, the Lake Belt
provides a buffer between developed areas to the east and the
Everglades to the west. For almost 60 years, the companies that
excavate more than half of the state's limestone have worked safely in
the Lake Belt area, producing jobs for thousands of Floridians, and
providing the raw materials that support the state's growing network
of roads and highways.
Limestone operations in the Lake Belt provide nearly half of the
limestone and one-fourth of the cement used in Florida for road
construction as well as residential, commercial, and industrial
construction projects in virtually every Florida community. The Lake
Belt provides the highest quality and quantity of aggregate material
in Florida and is served by an efficient network of roads and railways
needed to transport this vital material. Florida consumes 150 million
tons of limestone every year and 55 million tons come from the Lake
Belt region. All of the limestone rock produced in the Lake Belt area
stays in Florida and is used for road projects as well as residential,
commercial, and industrial construction jobs.
Greenberg Traurig
Kerri Barsh, 305-579-0772
Copyright Business Wire 2008
