Environmental groups are taking legal action in an attempt to halt the progression of a Palm Beach County rock mining project in the Everglades Agricultural Area, south of Lake Okeechobee.
The rock mine, dubbed the Southland Water Resource Project, proposes extracting limestone and eventually functioning as water storage on an 8,000-acre site adjacent to the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, which is under construction.
The site is currently farmland owned by the U.S. Sugar Corp. and Okeelanta Corp.
The Everglades Law Center, a nonprofit whose goals include defending the state’s ecosystems, fears the project could harm the environment.
The center filed a petition for a formal administrative hearing earlier in August on behalf of the Tropical Audubon Society, another nonprofit. This is the most recent action of opposition after the proposal drew lengthy public discussion earlier this year when Palm Beach County officials granted initial approval.
The groups’ goal is to stop the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from issuing a permit allowing the project to move forward.
“It is a massive excavation directly adjacent to multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration infrastructure,” said Lisa Interlandi, the Everglades Law Center’s policy director. Interlandi is one of several attorneys representing the Tropical Audubon Society.
Land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee is shown from the air on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
An anhinga suns itself on a rock on land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee is shown from the air on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Two great egrets walk on land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee is shown on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A raccoon scurries across land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee is shown on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Land that is planned for the Southland Water Resource project in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee is shown from the air on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Raising concerns
The Tropical Audubon Society has several concerns about the proposal, including “phosphorous-rich farm runoff” from mining activities mixing with water flowing to the Everglades, said Lauren Jonaitis, the society’s senior conservation director.
She said runoff could trigger algal blooms and damage wetlands, habitat and food sources for wildlife.
Mining also could reduce water flow south and worsen water levels in “key Everglades areas,” she said.
The project’s proximity — about 1,000 feet — to the EAA Reservoir, also drives worry about the impact of the rock mine. The EAA Reservoir is considered by many, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, to be the lynchpin of Everglades restoration efforts. Once complete, the 10,500-acre reservoir will be able to store 240,000 acre-feet of water. That water will then be filtered and cleaned in stormwater treatment marshes before it flows into the Everglades.
Additionally, the EAA Reservoir will reduce the need to send polluted Lake Okeechobee water to the coasts, where it damages estuaries and local economies.
The Southland project would sit directly north of some of the stormwater treatment marshes.
“You’re just digging into the ground, so you’re disrupting habitat for species and potentially damaging the infrastructure that’s already in place,” Jonaitis said. “It’s definitely a risk that I don’t think that we should be risking.”
According to documents from Phillips & Jordan, the Southland Water Resource Project’s location is illustrated in red above the A-2 Stormwater Treatment Facility and the A-2 Reservoir, which are part of the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Attorneys representing the Tropical Audubon Society wrote in the petition that the rock mine project “presents a direct and substantial threat to the petitioners’ environmental, recreational and aesthetic interests by undermining the performance of critical Everglades restoration infrastructure and diminishing water quality, quantity and distribution throughout the Greater Everglades ecosystem.”
Proposing changes for the site
Phillips & Jordan, the Southland Water Resource Project’s contractor, describes the project differently, emphasizing water storage. On a website about the project, Phillips & Jordan states the mine is “a public-private partnership focused on creating water storage south of Lake Okeechobee to improve water quality and support Everglades restoration.”
Once the limestone is removed from the mine, it would be filled with water, and function as storage, said Phillips & Jordan.
Phillips & Jordan also states the project will not impact the effectiveness of the nearby stormwater treatment areas. Instead, they said the mine, once filled with water, would enhance their performance by preventing “harmful dry-out events” and ensuring consistent water flow.
Phillips & Jordan has stated that though excavation is necessary, the limestone removed will “support Florida’s infrastructure needs” via road-building material, and the development would prioritize environmental goals.
“There’s a demonstrated need for additional water storage to maintain constant beneficial use of (Stormwater Treatment Area 5/6), and the Southland Water Resource Project effectively increases storage capacity by up to 20,000 acre feet in under five years,” Phillips & Jordan spokesperson Amanda Bevis wrote in a statement.
“At project completion, this project will increase capacity for the region by up to 120,000 acre feet of water storage. Southland Water Resource Project is essential to the region meeting its overall water quantity and quality goals,” Bevis wrote.
The mine, and thus the full water storage capacity, would not be complete for another 20 years, according to Phillips & Jordan.
A ‘fairly normal first step’
In many cases, administrative remedies — such as the petition — must be taken before going to court, said Alex Erwin, an environmental law professor at the University of Florida. Erwin is not involved with the rock mine issue.
“This is, from what I know, a fairly normal first step to contesting the granting of a permit in the state,” he said.
The history of the Everglades includes “certain industries butting heads with the folks trying to do restoration and just not seeing eye to eye,” he said.
“I think people, especially in the environmental community, are really observant and really quick to see potential issues just because of what the community has gone through,” he said.
Differing views
Before the project reached the part of the process where the state’s Department of Environmental Protection could grant a permit, Southland had to clear other hurdles.
Notably, on May 22, the project received unanimous approval from Palm Beach County commissioners. At the time, Mayor Maria Marino said the vote was the first step in a very long process.
According to county documents, the county will regulate mining and excavation, ensuring compatibility with the surrounding areas. This regulation also would monitor any environmental impacts and adverse health impacts to county residents.
Right before the county commissioners granted approval, Congressman Brian Mast, who represents Florida’s 21st congressional district, asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the entity in charge of building the EAA, in a letter on May 6 to “evaluate how the proposed project will impact Everglades restoration infrastructure … as the project could have implications for federally funded projects and Everglades restoration policy.”
The U.S. Army Corps responded a few days later, acknowledging the proximity of the proposed Southland project to the EAA.
“It is critical to work collaboratively to determine if the proposed Southland Water Resources Project will impact the federally authorized Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan project throughout the duration of its proposed implementation,” Army Corps director of civil works Edward Belk wrote.
The project now needs an environmental resource permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which “provides both a conceptual approval and a construction and management approval” for the first phase, according to the petition. This would include about 2,200 acres of the project’s overall about 8,600 acres.
In a statement, a DEP spokesperson said the agency received the petition and is reviewing it.
“If the petition is deemed sufficient, it will be forwarded to the Division of Administrative Hearings, and a hearing date will be set. As this matter is now in active litigation, DEP is limited in its ability to comment further,” they wrote.
Calling on the governor
Beyond taking legal action, the environmental organizations also are calling on the governor to curb its progress.
“We are calling on Gov. DeSantis to stop this before it undermines the heart of Everglades restoration,” Jonaitis said. “Why would you risk decades of progress and billions of taxpayer dollars? This isn’t about politics, it’s really about protecting Florida’s water, wildlife and our way of life, and that’s where Tropical is standing up and fighting against this project.”
For the 2025-26 fiscal year, DeSantis approved $1.4 billion for Everglades restoration and other water quality investments.
And last year, when he approved the state Legislature’s $1.5 billion appropriation toward Everglades restoration and other water-quality improvements, DeSantis said his view is that “we, as Floridians, as Americans, we want to utilize natural resources. We want to enjoy natural resources.”
“We don’t want to waste resources. We don’t want to rob future generations of that same enjoyment that we’re having,” he said in April 2024.
Originally Published: August 29, 2025 at 7:00 AM EDT