Florida House committee passes bill gutting state wetlands protections
March 21, 2009 at 10:31 am by Wayne Garcia
This is a year for developers and their high-paid legal lackeys to make end-runs on state and local environmental regulations, all in the name of re-starting our economy by letting development and growth run rampant — which is pretty much what tanked Florida’s economy in the first place.
It’s a false premise and a stupid idea. Now comes the most naked attack on the already pro-development balance in Florida’s runaway destruction of our natural beauty, a piece of hilariously titled legislation called “House Bill 1349 – Environmental Protection.” As Craig Pittman and Matt Waite of the St. Petersburg Times report today:
The bill, HB 1349, says that anyone who wants to destroy a wetland simply needs to turn in an application that’s been “prepared and signed by … scientists, engineers, geologists, architects or other licensed professionals.”
As long as the application is filled out properly and signed by a licensed professional, who certifies the wetland destruction won’t lead to water pollution problems, it “shall be presumed to comply” with the law and must be approved. The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill Thursday.
And:
“It’s a license to kill,” said Roy “Robin” Lewis of Tampa, an environmental consultant for more than 30 years. “This bill has nothing to do with proper management of wetlands in Florida.”
He also pointed out that engineers, geologists and architects are not wetland experts.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, said he is “a big believer in preservation of the environment.” He said his bill won’t lessen the protection for the state’s wetlands, but instead “we’re creating some respect … that’s been missing” from state regulators when they deal with developers.
Tampa Bay area state Reps. Rachel Burgin and Rich Glorioso, both Republicans, voted for the legislation. South Tampa Rep. Faye Culp, another R, voted against it in the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Policy Committee. (Click on Burgin’s and Glorioso’s names to let them know what you think about their committee vote. And drop Culp a thank-you if you are inclined.)
The story appeared the same day as a Tampa Tribune guest column by Tampa development lawyer Keith W. Bricklemyer of Bricklemyer, Smoker and Bolves.
Bricklemyer uses the existing state regs that protect wetlands as a rationale for killing the Hillsborough County wetlands protections, which are stricter than state and federal rules:
The emotional rhetoric offered historically and in recent editorials to continue the Environmental Protection Commission’s wetlands permitting program is missing one important thing: facts that document that Hillsborough County is more successful in protecting wetlands with EPC than other counties that don’t have such a group.
No such evidence has been offered because it does not exist. Of the 16 counties governed by Southwest Florida Water Management District, Hillsborough is the only one with a separate, county-funded wetlands permitting program. Do no other counties care about wetlands protection? Or have they done their homework and concluded that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the water district adequately protect wetlands and no additional expenditures are necessary? My bet, 15 to 1, is the latter.
… EPC’s wetlands division may have been valuable in its early years before the requirements of the Army Corps, DEP and the water district were established. However, its value has been overcome by events. These agencies and their programs make EPC’s wetlands division an anachronism. Since the Hillsborough County Commission could not muster the fortitude to eliminate the EPC wetlands division, the state Legislature should.
The ability for wrongheaded, in-the-pocket-of-developers lawmakers to change/gut/delete environmental protections such as HB 1349 is exactly the reason Hillsborough must keep its own EPC.
(Photo from Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands at the University of Florida)
