EcoWatch: Good and bad news for Florida’s ecosystem
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist and author
It’s that time again when Eco Watch has been faced with many eco issues that sad to say, mostly had bad news in the past. But Hallelu- jah, the wheel has turned and now there seems to be some sanity back into some government decisions that will protect the environment.
The number one issue started in 2020. It was a year when a larger in- flux of new people were relocating to Florida and mostly all wanted property with a view of waterways, that meant mangroves must go along with the loss of wetland areas.
Developers complained that getting permits to build in areas where there were wetlands was taking too long and was tedious. They requested a wider authority over development in these lands. A change of venue in 2020 transferred the authority of the Florida permitting process from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to the state of Florida.
According to a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, seven environmental groups, repre- sented by Earthjustice, sued the EPA in January of 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging this transfer of federal
wetlands permitting authority to Florida. The groups warned that the handover from the Trump administra- tion to Florida’s DeSantis administra- tion would “degrade and ruin Florida’s natural landscape, all in violation of federal environmental laws.”
The organizations that filed the suit were the Center for Biological Diver- sity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Florida Wildlife Federa- tion, Miami Waterkeeper and St. Johns Riverkeeper.
Now in 2024, a federal court has ruled in favor of these environmental groups, determining that the Environ- mental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated federal law when they greenlit Florida’s takeover of Clean Water Act wetland permitting.
Finding that the agencies had made an end-rule run around the Endan- gered Species Act, the court on Thurs- day struck down Florida’s program for reviewing the impacts the wetland per- mits have on imperiled species. Under the court’s new order, EPA, Florida, and those seeking permits to impact wetlands must consider the Endan- gered Species Act. Provisions to en- sure that threatened and endangered species had been protected in Clean Water Act permitting.
The National Audubon Society con- gratulated the organizations that brought the legal challenge.
Another issue facing the courts that is concerning and is impacting the en- dangered Florida Panther is a planned project in Lee County. Developers seek to build 10,000 homes, 240 hotel
rooms and a large commercial area in eastern Lee County where an esti- mated 120 to 230 endangered pan- thers “remain in their last territory on Earth,” according to the Center for Bi- ological Diversity.
This number of houses could trans- late into 95,000 additional vehicle trips a day on eastern Corkscrew Road. This would result in the danger to pan- thers by car collusion, one of the major causes of casualties of panthers crossing on highways.
Many environmental agencies, the Sierra Club, and Patty Whitehead of the Responsible Growth Management Coalition, told WGCU that, “Twenty- something panthers would be killed as a result of this development. I don’t know what to say, you know, our pub- lic agencies are supposed to protect the things that we honor and respect, which is our wildlife and our endan- gered species, that’s not happening. Obviously, they’re weighing in on the wrong side of this issue.”
She continued: “How can we have goals of recovery when we’re destroy- ing the core habitat of panthers. And if you take it away, we won’t have any panthers. There won’t be any pan- thers to move north. So, I don’t under- stand the logic of these agencies.”
The E.P.A. is taking public com- ments before deciding if the Lee County developer can build 10,000 homes in habitat critical to the Florida panther, according to a Center for Bio- logical Diversity press release of Feb. 16.
Many are also waiting for the deci- sion by the state Department of Envi- ronmental Protection and a federal
judge who have been asked to inter- vene on whether the project could go through, the only entities’ that can stop the project.
The future does not look reassuring for the Florida panther. The panther is listed as the most endangered of all Florida’s symbols, receiving the title of Florida’s State Animal, chosen by stu- dents in 1982.
It is ironic that the Florida manatee was listed as Florida’s state marine mammal in 1975 and was listed as en- dangered at that time. However, in 2017 the manatee was removed from the protection as an endangered species, and listed as threatened. There have been many requests to re- turn the manatee to the endangered status listing.
There are 64 endangered and threatened animal species believed to or known to occur in the state.
The question is what animal will re- place any of these species if they be- come extinct. Will Florida become a sterile state of quiet waters, void of all aquatic creatures? Will our rural lands be void of the cry of the panther, re- placed by the sounds of human en- croachment?
Will Florida become a state of over population and over development, de- stroying what once made this state a true paradise?
There will be an update on this arti- cle once a decision is made, either in favor of the project or the endangered Florida panther and its habitat, crucial for its survival.
Hopefully, the Florida Panther will have a chance at survival in 2024.
email: gaiasvigil@gmail.com
