Court Upholds Protections for Florida’s Wetlands

What happened: A federal appeals court ruled that Florida can’t do an end-run around the Endangered Species Act for building in wetlands, upholding an earlier Earthjustice victory ruling that ensures protections for vulnerable species like the critically endangered Florida panther.

Why it matters: Our planet is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, with scientists warning that nearly 40% of species could face extinction by 2100. Florida’s wetlands host a rich assortment of flora and fauna. But despite their importance, the first Trump administration handed off federal wetlands permitting authority in 2020 to Florida state officials, who have a terrible track record of protecting Florida’s waterways. Earthjustice successfully challenged that decision, restoring protections under federal law.

The Plight of the Panther

• Incredibly endangered: Biologists estimate that only 120 to 230 Florida panthers remain in the wild. They once roamed the southeast U.S. but now live only in a small wedge of South Florida.

• A ticking clock: This ruling comes at an urgent moment when Florida developers are seeking to build sprawling developments that would cause irreparable harm to panthers and imperiled crested caracara birds.

• High-stakes development: Projects are planned for a key wetlands area and critical wildlife corridor where the panthers remain in their last territory on Earth. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service previously estimated that the projects could kill as many as 26 panthers a year from vehicular collisions.

• Bigger than the panthers: Their status as the panthers’ stronghold is just one of many reasons Florida’s wetlands urgently need protection. They provide a home for many of the state’s 139 endangered or threatened species. They also play a key role in controlling flooding, buffering hurricanes, and filtering pollution out of drinking water.

Our Legal Argument

• Origins: This case began in late 2020, when the Trump administration gave Florida the power to approve wetlands permits. Among many other workarounds to federal law, the administration failed to ensure that the state program would adequately protect endangered species.

• A boon for developers: Florida developers had long called this state takeover their “Holy Grail,” because they could use their political influence to speed up development in environmentally sensitive areas.

• Going to court: Representing seven environmental groups, Earthjustice sued the EPA, warning that the handover would “degrade and ruin Florida’s natural landscape.”

• ESA compliance: Among other things, our lawsuit argued that because the federal government failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act when approving Florida’s permitting program, it could not legally allow Florida to take over permitting.

What the Courts Have Said

• The Trump administration broke the law in 2020 and the federal appeals court agrees with this determination: The courts’ decisions ensure federal protections will continue to apply to permit applications for sprawling developments, mines, and other projects that harm federally protected wetlands.

• What developers must do: The ruling requires federal authorization of permits involving wetlands covered by the Clean Water Act. This includes federal review of developers’ projects for their impacts on imperiled species.

• Setting a precedent: If other states seek Clean Water Act wetlands permitting authority in the future, these court rulings will require the federal government to comply with the Endangered Species Act in order to approve state programs.