The judge, ruling in a lawsuit filed by the Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of the Everglades, blocked the state from issuing water-discharge permits that don't comply with that standard.

The lawsuit arose from a 2003 session of the state Legislature, where sugar company lobbyists urged lawmakers to postpone a 2006 deadline for reducing phosphorus in water discharged into the Everglades to 10 parts per billion, a level that would protect the Everglades from being overrun with cattails.

The lobbyists prevailed, and furious environmentalists sued in state court but lost.

¶ 12:29 PM