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Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office: “If Florida wants the program back, it has to comply with federal law. In the meantime, the Corps is more than capable of handling Florida’s 404 permits, as it has for more than 40 years.”

Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office: “If [Florida officials] want the program back, they need to fix their mistakes, not dig into them.”

Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office: “The bottom line is that the [Army Corps of Engineers] is open for business and the only thing standing in the way of 404 permitting now is Florida’s refusal to transfer applications.”

Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office: “The decision is incredibly important because it goes back to the fundamentals, which is that the Endangered Species Act means what it says. The judge was on really solid ground in his ruling. He’s relying on decades of Endangered Species Act case law.”

Christina Reichert, Attorney, Florida Office: “They didn’t do what was required to make sure that there wouldn’t be any substantial harm to the many protected species that are in the state of Florida. Florida has … over 130 listed species in the state; we have immense biodiversity that needs to be protected. And a lot…

Bonnie Malloy, Attorney, Florida Office: “The trigger for (the state) to file an appeal hasn’t happened yet because the court hasn’t rendered a final judgment yet. This is something developers sought because they could get permits quicker than when they go through the (U.S. Army) Corps process, but there were several illegal shortcuts they took…

Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office: “The judge got it right. There’s a lot of reasons this program is illegal.”

Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office: “’It’s hard’ is NOT a reason to not comply with federal law.”

The ruling halts two massive development projects that would have disturbed the last remaining habitat of the critically endangered Florida panther.

Christina Reichert, Attorney, Florida Office: “[The ruling] sends a clear signal that Congress meant what it said when it passed the Endangered Species Act. No state can be allowed to take over a federal program as important as the Clean Water Act’s wetlands permitting program by making an end-run around the Endangered Species Act.”

Judge finds EPA and USFWS failed to comply with Endangered Species Act

A federal court rules in favor of environmental groups, determining that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated federal law when they greenlit Florida’s takeover of the Clean Water Act wetlands permitting program.

Plaintiff conservation organizations bring this action to protect our Nation’s waters and the endangered species that rely on them. During the Trump Administration, Florida worked hand in glove with developers to achieve developers’ “holy grail”: state assumption over Section 404 of the Clean Water Act — which governs dredging and filling of many sensitive wetlands — in one of the most biodiverse states in the country. Between 2017 and 2020, the State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, worked to make this dream a reality. The Defendants’ actions, however, violated multiple federal laws and must be set aside.

We’re in court to force the federal government to protect some of the most important wetlands in America.

We’re making sure that federal and state governments keep their commitments to protect Florida’s wetlands.

On behalf of our clients, Earthjustice filed suit to stop an attempt by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to allow Florida to fast-track wetlands permits for construction projects that will degrade and ruin Florida’s natural landscape, all in violation of federal environmental laws. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District…

Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney, Florida Office, Earthjustice: “EPA is lowering the bar to allow a state, for the first time, to run the federal wetlands program without meeting federal standards. Developers have called this the ‘holy grail’ because it would make it easier, faster and cheaper for them to get permits for big projects with…

Suit against EPA letting Florida assume federal wetlands permitting