Judge is now out on well battle
Last Stand hopes for ‘Keys’ win
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
The three parties to a dispute over a Stock Island wastewater project have all tossed their offerings into the well, so to speak. Now, a judge will rule over whose coins carry the most currency in the development-minded Florida Keys, circa 2015.
“We’ve had 10 days of hearings, beginning on May 28, that have now ended,” said George Halloran, a board member of the Last Stand environmental advocacy group. “Now we’re in a period of waiting for the transcript of the trial. The lawyers need to receive copies of everything that happened at trial, and will then have a certain number of days to write a set of descriptions of recommended orders. Then the judge has a certain number of days to make her decision.”
The battle pits Last Stand against representatives from KW Resort Utilities, and the state Department of Environmental Protection, before visiting Administrative Law Judge Cathy M. Sellers.
The KW Resort Utilities firm wants to build two shallow wastewater wells on a Stock Island property. Last Stand wants the company to build one much deeper one, in order to protect the environment.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which has issued permits for two shallow wells is caught in the middle.
At one point, the proceedings were moved to Old City Hall, to accommodate conflicting schedules.
Halloran stated recently that he was pleased that Judge Sellers had granted standing to testify to Last Stand members, but not so happy that the affair had cost the grassroots group over $60,000.
In a nutshell, KW Resort Utilities has a pair of shallow wells handling about a half-million gallons of treated effluent daily. The company wants to increase this capacity to an average of about 850,000 gallons, which is just shy of the 1 million gallon mark that triggers DEP requirements for a deep well.
Given that the firm plans to add effluent from Florida Keys Community College, the county jail, and Key West Golf Club to the mix, Last Stand contends that the eventual output will far exceed the DEP’s million gallon threshold, and thus require a deep well.
The KW Resort Utilities lawyer, Bart Smith has previously indicated that he was not eager to discuss the case until its conclusion, however he is on record as stating that he sees no connection between the case and another recent well lawsuit in which Cudjoe Key fisherman Mike Laudicina succeeded in pressuring the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority – by way of a lawsuit – to build a deep injection well at a wastewater treatment plant in his area.
Halloran has no such misgivings.
“I know which way I want it to go, and which way most people I know would want it to go,” he said. “We want the facility on Stock Island to discharge into a deep well, instead of one 100 feet under the surface. Let’s hope we win this one. It would be hugely helpful for the environment.”
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