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Backed into a corner by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed schedule of water releases from Lake Okeechobee, some Lee County leaders say they may have no other choice but to sue.

County leaders have tried to play nice, hoping that a new plan for releasing water from the lake would offer some relief from harmful flows to the Caloosahatchee River.

But those hopes faded last week when the Army Corps released a proposed new schedule, which likely will increase the frequency of harmful flows into the Caloosatchee between 2007 and 2010.

The schedule calls for the Army Corps to keep the maximum level of the lake below 17.25 feet. That is more than a foot lower than the current maximum level of 18.5 feet, meaning the lake can hold 190 billion fewer gallons.

“There is no question we are going to have to sue because this proposal is unacceptable,” Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah said last week after a public workshop during which the Corps introduced its proposed new schedule. “It causes greater harm.”

Litigation may be the only option Lee County leaders have to force the Corps to come up with an alternative that spreads the harm equally among all affected parties, said Wayne Daltry, the county’s director of Smart Growth.

“When all parts of the system decide they are not going to become the redheaded stepchild, you are required to come up with a compromise,” Daltry said. “If (the Corps) feels it is unnecessary to compromise with us, we can either accept it or not.”

Though some do not want to pit the east coast against the west coast, Daltry said the two coasts have been in that position for years and the west coast is losing.

Of the water annually released from Lake Okeechobee, 50 percent goes west down the Caloosahatchee, 30 percent goes east down the St. Lucie River and 20 percent goes south to the Everglades Agricultural Area and the Everglades.

However, during the rainy season, even less goes south, meaning the breakdown could be more like 70 percent to the west and 30 percent to the east, Judah said.

Judah would like to see the historic flowway restored, meaning more water flows south.

The proposed release schedule would keep the percentage roughly the same, but the east coast would experience greater relief from high flows that do the most damage.

Meanwhile, damaging flows to the west would increase slightly under the new proposal.

The Caloosahatchee estuary gets the lion’s share of water from Lake Okeechobee because it is a natural river basin that can handle more water, said Pete Milam, the Army Corps project manager leading the schedule change.

The St. Lucie is a manmade canal with limited capacity, said Dennis Duke, head of the Everglades restoration program for the Army Corps’ Jacksonville district.

However, the St. Lucie is physically capable of receiving more water, given the right tidal and weather conditions, Duke said.

Some local leaders believe politics may play a role in which way the water goes.

Before the 1970s, the Army Corps moved more of the lake’s water to the St. Lucie than to the Caloosahatchee, Daltry said.

“It’s a canal, and canals are designed to handle a lot of water,” he said. “There has been a planing program under way for decades that is benefiting parts of the system at the expense of the rest and we are the rest.”

In January, the Lee Board of County Commissioners directed County Attorney David Owen to prepare to enter litigation in case the board needed to take action.

The board instructed Owen that it may take action if releases of the magnitude that occurred late last year and early this year continued.

Commissioners authorized Owen to spend $250,000 completing legal preparations.

“There are no circumstances in place that, in my mind, warrant litigation at this time, but I will rely on my clients to tell me that,” Owen said Friday.

Any case the county pursues would have to demonstrate that the Army Corps is violating federal law, he said.

“Although it is impacting the estuaries and quality of water in the Caloosahatchee, it all comes down to one question of whether or not that action violates federal law,” Owen said.

Owen declined to discuss what legal basis he might use to sue.

Similar cases filed by the Miccosukee Indians, Friends of the Everglades and Earth Justice were successful by focusing on the protection of endangered species and the quality of the Everglades.

“The whole Everglades restoration program came out of a lawsuit,” Daltry said. “There is a lot of litigation history out there.”

The city of Sanibel also is looking into possible litigation, said Mayor Carla Johnston.

“There are a number of laws where there might be basis for a lawsuit,” Johnston said. “At this point, we are still examining our options.”

The decision to sue should be the option of last resort, said Commissioner Tammy Hall.

“I don’t feel like we’re ready to do a lawsuit,” Hall said.

Hall still wants answers to several questions, such as why the lake’s maximum level was reduced to 17.25 feet.

If the county chooses to sue, it can no longer discuss Lake Okeechobee water releases with the Army Corps, Hall said.

Though the new schedule reduces the lake’s maximum level, it has many improvements over the current schedule, Milam said.

The lower flows released from the lake during the dry season occur earlier and more frequently than in the current plan, helping to keep saltwater from damaging freshwater areas of the river. The proposed schedule also keeps more of the releases within acceptable levels, which does less harm to the estuary, Milam said.

The proposal is the best alternative available without adding more storage capacity, he said.

“With all the passion I have, I wish that there was some other storage capacity available that we could use,” Milam said. “This is the best alternative we have within the constraints that balances all these competing issues.”

Before the proposed schedule of releases is implemented at the end of the year, the Army Corps can implement changes that incorporate comments from various public hearings, he said.