I want to tell you about an important recent victory Waterkeeper Alliance and our partners won Friday, with your help.
Waterkeeper Alliance, along with Calusa Waterkeeper and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed suit last year challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ unmitigated releases of Lake Okeechobee water, which is polluted with nitrogen, phosphorus, and toxic algae, into South Florida waterways and estuaries, including the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and the Lake Worth Lagoon.
The Center for Biological Diversity has very ably represented us in this lawsuit, which claims that these releases are killing and harming countless marine species, including some listed under the Endangered Species Act, such as manatees, smalltooth sawfish, Johnson’s seagrass, sea turtles, and coral.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled on the Endangered Species Act claims, finding in our favor. The Court expressed serious concern about the impacts of releases of contaminated water on the manatees, explaining, “There is perhaps no animal that embodies the need for the [Endangered Species Act] more than the Manatee.”
While another claim in the suit is pending, this initial Endangered Species Act ruling was a critically important victory. And it happened thanks to you.
We are strengthening and growing a global network of Waterkeepers around the globe. The growth of our movement is why there are Waterkeeper groups defending waterways from Florida to the Himalayas.
Thanks to you, we are able to forge partnerships with other environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity.
Just as a healthy ecosystem needs many plants and animals, living interdependently, to thrive, a healthy environmental movement needs a mix of organizations, each with a different focus, to work together to fight for our planet’s future.
Thanks to you, we’re a critical part of the environmental movement. And thanks to you, we’re able to work hand-in-glove with our partners to defend Florida’s waters — as well as the manatees, sea turtles, and coral that call those waters home.
