United States Sugar Corp. v. Semonite

United States Sugar Corporation (U.S. Sugar) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in federal court in the Southern District of Florida asserting that the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to prepare a new or supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) before releasing “unprecedented amounts” of water from Lake Okeechobee, allegedly “driving the Lake to extreme low levels and man-made drought.” The complaint alleged that the existing EIS and Regulation Schedule, from 2007 and 2008, respectively, did not anticipate or provide for the releases undertaken by the Corps beginning in November 2018. U.S. Sugar said the Corps’ declaration that the 2007 EIS provided “coverage” under NEPA for the releases “flouts the law by ignoring the changes in operations and the changes in circumstances” since 2007, including the Corps’ development of additional science regarding risks from climate change.