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Wetlands Permitting

15, 2005

Dear Friends:

In the several high-growth counties of NE Florida, and across all Florida, this is a critical issue for us all.  Moving permitting for 10 acre projects to the state will lead to faster and unmitigated wetlands destruction.  We’ve got to get all over this.  Please take a few minutes to call Col. Carpenter at the Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville (Direct 904-232-2241; public affairs office: 904-232-2236 – e-mail robert.m.carpenter@saj02.usace.army.mil).  Calls to our U.S. & state representatives and senators are needed too, particularly US Rep. Ander Crenshaw (202-225-2501) and US Senator Bill Nelson (202-224-5274).

This permitting authority should not be moved to the state!  The developers will control it.  The state’s record of failure to protect wetlands and manage growth is abysmal.  The USACE’s is not much better, but its standards and project design requirements lead to better results and better protections.  If the state takes over permitting 10-acres and less, I’ll bet more projects become 10 acres and our heads will spin.

I think Florida Sierra Club needs to lobby hard on this.  We need as citizens to appeal to our representatives that this will be bad for the people of Florida.  The beneficiaries will be the developers who apparently care principally for profits and little for the ecological integrity of our homeland.

I was prompted to write this and contact some fellow Sierrans after reading a recent editorial from St. Petersburg.  For more information, see the continuing astonishing wetlands series in the St. Petersburg Times.

Regards, Tom Larson

Chair, Sierra Club Northeast Florida Group