State: Judge orders list of havens for manatees

A federal judge threatened to find U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt of court Wednesday and ordered her to draw up a list of manatee refuges and sanctuaries around Florida by Nov. 1.

That means boaters around Tampa Bay may soon find new restrictions on their access to areas around Weedon Island, Port Sutton, the Gandy Channel and Apollo Beach. And tourists who like to dive with the manatees in the Blue Waters of the Homosassa River may find their activities curtailed.

In a refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would set strict speed zones and other boating restrictions. The Gandy, Port Sutton and Apollo Beach sites are planned for refuges.

In a sanctuary, the agency would likely ban all activity, including boating, swimming, snorkeling and diving, although such a ban might last only part of the year. Blue Waters and Weedon Island are under consideration for sanctuaries, as are portions of Port Sutton and Apollo Beach.

Federal wildlife officials originally agreed to a deadline of last fall for setting up those special areas for protecting manatees.

But they backed off at the request of Gov. Jeb Bush, who once proclaimed the manatee "my favorite mammal." U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said July 10 that pleasing the president's brother was not a good reason for a federal agency to violate a legal agreement "regardless of the political ramifications."

During Wednesday's hearing in Washington, D.C., Sullivan blasted Norton, who oversees the federal wildlife agency, for trying to get out of the agreement.

Attorneys representing the agency had argued that the settlement was illegal and should be tossed out, but Sullivan -- the same judge who ordered Vice President Dick Cheney to stop hiding documents from his energy task force -- ruled against them.

The Nov. 1 deadline is a month earlier than federal wildlife officials said was possible. But "it's doable," said Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chuck Underwood, adding that "it's unfortunate the judge feels the way he does."

Sullivan's ruling comes as Florida appears headed for a new record of manatee deaths by boat. As of Friday, boaters had been blamed in the deaths of 71 manatees, which is 20 more than were killed during the same period last year.

"This is the worst possible time to be playing these legal games," said Eric Glitzenstein, an attorney representing the 45,000-member Save the Manatee Club and 18 other environmental groups that sued the federal agency.

But Norton "believed she was acting consistently with the court's prior orders and obligations under federal law," said Dana Perino, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, which represented the federal agency in court.

If the judge had allowed federal officials to scuttle the agreement, then Glitzenstein's clients said they would seek a temporary moratorium on permits for all new boat slips in manatee habitat around the state. Federal officials estimate they approve about 5,000 new boat slips a year in Florida, which is already home to more than 1-million registered boaters.

Boating rights activists, who believe the manatee population is booming and thus does not need special protections, expressed dissatisfaction but no surprise at Sullivan's decision.

"That's what this lawsuit was all about, to take the decisions out of the public's hands," said Jim Kalvin of the boating rights group Standing Watch, which claims 20,000 members statewide.

Norton was drawn into the fight because of a lawsuit filed in 2000 by a coalition of environmental groups that accused federal wildlife officials of failing to do enough to protect the manatee, which has been on the endangered species list for 30 years. Clinton administration officials settled the suit in January 2001, just before leaving office.

Four months ago, the same environmental groups went back to court, accusing Norton of failing to comply with the settlement, which they contended was part of pattern of similar actions on environmental issues by Bush administration officials.

Although it is rare for Cabinet secretaries to face contempt charges, it is not unprecedented. In 1999, a federal judge found two Cabinet officials, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, in contempt and fined them $600,000 for failing to turn over documents relating to the alleged mishandling of 300,000 Indian accounts.

Last year the same judge, Royce Lambeth, threatened to find Norton in contempt as well. After a trial in February, Lambeth has yet to rule.

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this story.

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