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What's Wrong in Florida?

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[Clean Water Act]

[Corps Regulations]

 

What Went Wrong in Florida? How was the Clean Water Act Hijacked by Developers?

    Since 1991, the Jacksonville District of the Corps has issued about 26,000 permits for activities in "waters of the United States." It has denied less than 50 permit applications.

On paper, the Clean Water Act provides a remarkable degree of protection to wetlands and other "waters of the United States." The Environmental Protection Agency adopted regulations to implement to Clean Water Act. They can be reviewed at the EPA's terrific wetlands website:

 

EPA Website


These regulations attest to the fundamental importance of wetland protection and the legal presumption in favor of protecting wetlands:

 

§ 230.1(b) Fundamental to these Guidelines is the precept that dredged or fill material should not be discharged into the aquatic ecosystem, unless it can be demonstrated that such a discharge will not have an unacceptable adverse impact either individually or in combination with known and/or probable impacts of other activities affecting the ecosystems of concern. (c) From a national perspective, the degradation or destruction of special aquatic sites, such as filling operations in wetlands, is considered to be among the most severe environmental impacts covered by these Guidelines. The guiding principle should be that degradation or destruction of special sites may represent an irreversible loss of valuable aquatic resources.

 

What happened when this strong law intersected with the "growth for growth's sake" culture permeating Florida? Look around-you haven't seen any genuine development constraints in wetlands imposed by the Corps in the past 30 years, since the adoption of the Clean Water Act. It's pretty much been business as usual.

 

Think about it: everything west of I-95 in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties is historic Everglades. And think of all the post-1972 filling of the Everglades in those counties that has occurred. Indeed, the Corps has permitted the destruction of the Everglades, and yet the Corps is now in charge of Everglades restoration!! Go figure.

The sad truth is that the Clean Water Act, on the books for 30 years, hasn't done much in Florida to protect the "waters of the United States." This can be attributed to:
 

Just imagine if the Clean Water Act had been vigorously enforced over the past 30 years. Florida would look much different, much better. Our water supply would not be in crisis. Our wildlife would have a place to live. The Everglades wouldn't be on the verge of decimation.
 

Citizen Participation is a Missing Link in Corps' Accountability

When Congress passed the Clean Water Act amendments in 1972, it built several presumptions into the law. These include:
 

The Clean Water Act was never intended to be put on bureaucratic autopilot. That's why Congress built a 30-day public comment period into the Act. The comment period provides for citizens to review public notices and write to the Corps about their concerns regarding a particular project.
Unfortunately, there has been no systematic, long-term citizen oversight of the Corps' permitting. The Corps has only heard consistently from one interest group: Developers!
 

ANYBODY CAN COMMENT
YOU DO NOT NEED PERMISSION FROM ANYONE.


Another important point: Commenting is the exercise of a public right granted under the Clean Water Act. It should not subject a commenter to SLAPP (Strategic lawsuit against public participation.)
The 30-day public comment period begins to run the day the public notice is put out for public comment. If you need an extension of time in which to comment, write to the Corps' project manager listed on the public notice and request your extension. Explain why you need more time. The Corps' should give it to you if your request is reasonable, but don't hold your breath: The Corps is not friendly to the commenting public. FLASOS believes the Corps has been co-opted by the development industry and views developers as its clients. The Corps routinely caves to developers and will probably view you as a problem. So don't expect much from the Corps in terms of hospitality.
 

What Can You Do?

  1. Write Senators Nelson and Graham, and your Congressional representative and demand an inquiry into why the Clean Water Act has been systematically ignored in Florida.
    • Demand that the permitting program be removed from the Corps and placed under the control of the EPA. You just can't expect the fox to guard the hen house!
    • Demand adequate EPA and Corps funding for permit reviews.
    • Demand that the Corps start following the rules!
    • Demand an overhaul of the Corps' permitting fee structure. Right now developers pay $100 to submit an application. This does not begin to cover the costs of permitting. Make the permitting pay its way!
  2. Start commenting on projects in your community. It won't cost you anything. All it will take is some time, thought and commitment.
  3. Get other citizens involved in commenting. Commenting is a cheap and effective way to show your commitment to protecting your community.
  4. If you observe dredge and fill occurring, inquire to the Corps and local water management district as to whether the property owner has obtained the necessary permitting. A lot of dredge and fill goes on that nobody knows about.

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