November 11, 2002 U.S. Government Permits Destroying Western Everglades

November 11, 2002

U.S. Government Permits Destroying Western Everglades

The same kind of poorly-planned development that devastated the Eastern Everglades and will cost American taxpayers billions to repair is now being allowed to ravage the Western Everglades, with dire consequences for people and wildlife, according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the Florida Wildlife Federation and the Council of Civic Associations. Titled Road to Ruin, the report exposes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' failure to restrain environmental destruction in the Western Everglades and reveals how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have fallen short of their legal responsibilities to protect this prized public resource.

"Incredibly, the misguided wetland draining and filling that spelled disaster for the Eastern Everglades and cost taxpayers billions to repair is now being repeated in the Western Everglades," said Andrew Schock, director of NWF's Southeastern Natural Resource Center in Atlanta, GA. "The Army Corps owes it to Americans to learn from the mistakes of the past and turn off the tap that's draining the Western Everglades." The report finds that the Corps is ignoring its own rules and violating federal law by delaying formal action on the Southwest Florida Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). More than two years of delay have given leave to a grossly ineffective permitting process that is allowing over-development to seriously jeopardize America's Western Everglades, its communities and its wildlife.

"The Corps' environmental impact statement confirms that its current permitting practices seriously threaten the Western Everglades," said Nancy Payton, Southwest Florida field representative for the Florida Wildlife Federation. "By refusing to take decisive action on the EIS, the Corps is signaling "business as usual" to Southwest Florida developers and furthering the decline of the Western Everglades." The Road to Ruin report underscores that the Corps' own data shows that the agency is permitting the loss of more than 900 acres of wetlands each year in the EIS area. The Corps' required mitigation fails to offset these massive wetland losses. Equally important, the report finds that the Corps continues to permit development in wetland areas identified in the EIS as critical to a sustainable Southwest Florida and therefore warranting special protection.

Legally, the Corps is prohibited from issuing a permit where a developer has a reasonable alternative to building in wetlands. However, the agency rarely requires developers to avoid wetland impacts. "Despite the warning signs, the Corps is permitting more wetland losses now than it did before the EIS process began," continued Payton. "The result is wholesale destruction that is putting America's Western Everglades on the road to ruin." Road to Ruin also finds fault with EPA and FWS for agreeing to Corps' permits where the permitted developments pollute Southwest Florida's waters and destroy endangered species habitat. The EPA has failed to require sufficient water quality controls to prevent further water quality declines in special waters such as Estero Bay.

The FWS has agreed with Corps permits that have destroyed more than 60,000 acres of habitat essential to the survival of the endangered Florida panther. The wetlands affected by the federal agencies' lax permitting practices are extremely valuable resources to people and wildlife alike. They supply drinking water, support local tourism, foster commercial and recreational fishing, and create habitat vital to wildlife such as the Florida panther, the wood stork and the manatee. "We must stop the pay-to-play politics that allow special interests to erode the government's accountability to the American people for protecting our nation's public resources," said Ann Hauck, co-founder of the Council of Civic Associations.

"We need to re-emphasize the public's interest in decisions that affect water quality, flooding, habitat, endangered species and sport and commercial fisheries." "The Army Corps was right to conduct the Southwest Florida environmental study; but, it is wrong to ignore its warnings," concluded Schock. "Unless the Corps, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service enforce the law, Western Everglades water and wildlife will be gone forever."
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