Judge strikes part of Everglades law

MIAMI, July 30 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Miami has struck down key parts of a controversial Florida law that contained a revised schedule for cleaning up the Everglades.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold criticized the state legislature for relaxing rules limiting the amount of damaging phosphorous flowing into the Everglades from Lake Okeechobee, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

State officials insisted the 2003 law did not relax the Everglades' water standard, but Gold called the move "an adroit legislative effort to obscure the obvious." The judge said it created "an escape clause that allows non-compliance."

"Nothing could justify a schedule so slow and glacial as to defeat the (Clean Water Act's) goals," Gold said in his ruling Tuesday. He also criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approving the state's revised clean-up schedule.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Miccosukee Tribe and the conservation group Friends of the Everglades.