Instead of acting to protect Florida's wetlands, state leaders and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have allowed thousands of acres to be destroyed.
A Times Editorial
Published May 29, 2005
Wetlands are Florida's lifeblood for clean water and diverse wildlife, yet the state must rely upon a federal agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to protect the vital resource. Timid and conflicted, the corps has allowed destruction of at least 84,000 acres of wetlands, an area about the size of St. Petersburg, over the past 15 years.
The corps has proved to be so inept that it couldn't even provide that statistic to Floridians because the agency didn't begin keeping records of all wetlands permits until two years ago. It took a remarkable, 18-month effort by St. Petersburg Times staff writers Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite to measure the state's loss by using satellite photos, sophisticated software and on-site visits.
The Times found that despite a policy of "no net loss," the corps has rubber-stamped more permits to fill wetlands in Florida than in any other state. The requirement that developers mitigate the damage by building artificial wetlands is a farce because the corps doesn't follow up. Wal-Mart, for example, was required to preserve 26 acres of wetlands to win approval of a store in Oldsmar, but the giant retailer was caught trying to sell the land for development - not by the corps but by alert residents. Engineers have yet to replicate nature, so many mitigation projects end up as elaborate retention ponds that bear no resemblance to the wetlands that were destroyed.
Why has the corps failed so miserably? It has turned the law on its head. Instead of standing as the guardian of wetlands, the corps sees itself as a development facilitator. Its Florida training manual reads "the burden of proof is on the corps to show a proposal is contrary to the public interest." Yet the public has little oversight of the process.
Even when a project is obviously harmful, the corps doesn't reject it. Rather "we work with (developers) until we get an acceptable solution," said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the corps' commander. On the rare occasion the corps finds its backbone, politicians beholden to developers often threaten the agency into submission.
The list of bullies is a bipartisan Who's Who of Florida congressional members, including Sen. Bill Nelson and former Sens. Bob Graham and Connie Mack. Typical is the action of Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, who pressured the corps to grant a permit to destroy 10 acres of wetlands on behalf of a developer who contributed to his campaign.
Consequently, the corps rarely says no. In 2003 (the latest records available), it approved 3,400 permits and rejected none. After the Times began asking questions, the corps turned down four applications in two weeks and claimed the timing was a coincidence.
The corps isn't the only agency with a role in wetlands protection. The state could reject projects that threaten to pollute before they get to the corps, but it rarely does. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to veto a permit under the Clean Water Act, but it hasn't done that since 1988.
"Nobody has the guts to draw the line," said John Hall, who ran the corps' permitting here for 15 years. Florida is losing thousands of acres of wetlands, and the bureaucracy charged with protecting them is broken. The agencies need to do their job, and members of Congress should butt out. Let's see who has the guts to protect Florida wetlands before there aren't any real ones left.
