Staff Writer
JEA decided to settle a 3-year-old lawsuit that will cost the organization more than $700,000 but allow it to move forward with protection and clean up of the St. Johns River.
The St. Johns Riverkeeper and The Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida filed suit in federal court against the JEA in August 2007, alleging that the JEA had repeatedly violated the “Clean Water Act” through numerous sanitary sewer overflows from its Buckman and Arlington East wastewater treatment facilities.
The JEA has stated that the sanitary sewer overflows cited in the lawsuit have been corrected, are not ongoing and have been subject to prior enforcement by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
To date, the JEA has spent more than $350,000 in legal fees and experts in its defense. The parties were ordered to mediation by U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Morales Howard at a May 10 hearing, and the parties met June 18 to discuss a settlement agreement.
“It’s an important initial step to system upgrades in the future,” said Jimmy Orth, executive director of the St. Johns Riverkeeper. “The legal tool is our last resort to effect change, but sometimes it is necessary to get those changes made.”
JEA Managing Director and CEO Jim Dickenson was also glad to move ahead.
“We’re pleased to be able to settle the suit and begin the discussion on how to best move forward,” said Dickenson. “We were glad to sit down with everybody. It was a meeting of the minds working together to develop best practices moving forward.”
St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon agreed.
“I think we are moving in the right direction,” said Armingeon. “This all grew out of a compliance report that we, along with The Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida, developed. It showed that this was an instance where people were violating the law and not held accountable. We are moving forward.”
The agreement includes:
• The JEA will pay $270,000 in attorneys fees to plaintiffs.
• The JEA has agreed to pay up to $100,000 over a two-year period to hire two experts, an independent engineer who will review JEA’s program for reducing and addressing sanitary sewer overflows and an engineer or consultant who will work with the Riverkeeper and the Institute during quarterly meetings with the JEA and review and report overflows occurring during the term of the agreement and implementation of the program.The Riverkeeper will be responsible for dispersing the funds to the experts, and reporting the allocation to the JEA.
• JEA will also submit reports to the Riverkeeper and Institute on any new sanitary sewer overflows.
• The JEA will provide a list of five engineers and the Riverkeeper and Institute will provide a list of five engineers for consideration, and the two sides will mutually select the experts.
• The JEA has 90 days to provide its program for the reduction of sanitary sewer overflows.
• Following the submission of a program and the selection of experts, the Riverkeeper and Institute will dismiss the suit with prejudice.
• The term of the agreement may be extended for an additional year, with the JEA funding an additional $25,000.
“The agreement represents a mutual undertaking with JEA that will help protect the waterways of Northeast Florida,” said Athena Mann, vice president of environmental services for JEA.
JEA is the second largest sewer utility in the state of Florida, with more than 3,000 miles of collection pipes. The system has the capacity to treat 124 million gallons of raw sewage a day, with the average daily flow of 80 million gallons. JEA’s sewer system serves Duval and parts of three surrounding counties.
356-2466