Not wanting to be lumped in with other polluters, US Sugar accused the Sierra Club of spreading lies about its record.
"The Sierra Club has come out with a lot of baseless, and what we consider reckless accusations," US Sugar Spokesperson Judy Sanchez told a press conference in Ft. Myers Monday.
The Clewiston based sugar company refuted claims it pumped polluted water from its farm fields to Lake Okeechobee.
Heavy rain this winter forced the Army Corp of Engineers to release overflow water from Lake Okeechobee into estuaries, causing pollution on the Southwest and Southeast coasts.
"The water is not coming from South of the Lake, what did come from South of the Lake did not come from US Sugar, it was not pumped for US Sugar," said Sanchez.
The South Florida Water Management District says between 2006 and 2015 less than 1 percent of water added to the lake came from where U.S. Sugar farms, mainly south of the lake.
But the Sierra Club said a federal judge ruled several years ago the company can't dump any water into the lake. Spokesman John Scott says a judge wouldn't have made the ruling, if the company hadn't polluted in the past.
"We're not making this stuff up, The sugar industry has a well orchestrated machine, and they attack everything they need to attack, in order to maintain their status quo," said Scott.
Scott says US Sugar and the state of Florida needs to honor the will of voters, who in 2014 approved Amendment 1. The measure sets aside revenue to acquire lands which can be set aside for conservation.
"We want to see the Amendment one funds used for their intended purpose."
Sending overflow water south through the Everglades will ease the burden on estuaries to the east and west. But Sanchez says US Sugar sold 27,000 acres of its land in 2010 to the South Florida Water Management District.
It offered to sell 47,000 more acres, but Sanchez says SFWMD declined the offer.
