New legislation would pose an undue burden on protesters, particularly those who fight for environmental causes, and assault public standing on licenses and permits.

It was painful enough to many protesters when the state made its final decision to permit the construction of the Anderson-Columbia cement plant a scant three miles from the headwaters of the Itchetuknee River. Under bills now steaming through the Legislature, had they been law then, the loss could have bankrupted them, too.

Worse -- if possible -- they might not have been allowed even to contest the application.

Lobbyists for developers and other big businesses are close to passing legislation (CS for SB 910, HB 1135) that would require state hearing officers to assess lawyers' fees and costs against objectors whose legal or factual arguments are ruled incorrect. That is a vicious twist on present law, which provides for fees and costs only for frivolous claims or harassment.

This would apply in all cases involving a license or permit, not just those affecting the environment.

As for the environment, the bill would repeal the monumental 1971 law granting legal standing to any citizen to enforce laws that protect air and water quality or other natural resources. Without that, a protester would have to prove a threat to some personal "substantial interest." This is clearly aimed at Florida Audubon and other environmental organizations. The Save the Manatee Club is notably vulnerable. How does a human show a "substantial interest" in marine wildlife?

The development lobbies began a similar assault on citizen standing in last year's session but it failed after the Environmental Protection Agency warned that it might have to revoke Florida's authority to issue certain federal permits. But as everyone knows, there's a new administration in Washington.

There's also a new line in Tallahassee -- that citizens don't even have the right to object to legislation that would erase their right to be heard. When the Senate Governmental Oversight Committee took up the bill, it said it didn't have time for public testimony. And now the lobbyists are trying to shortcut the remaining committee process at both ends of the Capitol by speeding the bill directly to the House and Senate calendars.

Any legislator who helps them do it is no friend of the public. He or she is the public's enemy.

The Senate sponsor is Jim King, R-Jacksonville, one of the three contenders for the next Senate presidency. What a strange credential for a position of such high trust.

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