Appeals court upholds Florida ruling on water runoff

ATLANTA - A federal appeals court panel has upheld a Florida ruling that a sugar cane farm is not illegally polluting Lake Okeechobee through its management of a water management system. <br> <br> A group called Fishermen Against the Destruction of the Environment sued Closter Farms Inc., claiming that runoff from the cane fields and adjacent properties was polluting the lake in violation of the Clean Water Act because it had no permit. <br> <br> A federal judge in Florida ruled for Closter Farms, saying that ``though Closter Farms is polluting Lake Okeechobee, it has complied with the established legislative scheme.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Three judges of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling Wednesday. <br> <br> ``Because the evidence fails to show any pollutants discharged into the lake other than those that fall within the agricultural exemptions to the Clean Water Act, we find that no permit is required,&#39;&#39; said the opinion written by Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat. <br> <br> He was joined by Senior Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch and C. Roger Vinson, the chief U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Florida, sitting by designation. <br> <br> The judges said any pollutants that originated in non-agricultural properties adjacent to Closter Farms including the Palm Beach/Glades Airport, the Pahokee Wastewater Treatment Plant, a Palm Beach County park and State Road 715 either were covered by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or were exempt.