Federal Judge Strikes Down State Critical Habitat Ruling
Photo courtesy Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
The Florida Panther is a big winner in a federal court ruling. A federal judge in Washington D.C. has struck down a Trump-era action that turned wetland permitting oversight to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The oversight was previously done by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Judge Randolph Moss ruled the transfer to the state violated the Endangered Species Act, threatening the Florida Panther. The lawsuit was brought by environmental groups who feared the state DEP under the DeSantis administration would be more likely to acquiesce to the permitting requests of developers.
At central issue was a state permit for a more than 7-thousand-acre development in Lee County, in the middle of prime panther habitat. That permit is now blocked by the ruling.
In the lawsuit environmental groups projected the development and resulting highway traffic would kill as many as 30 panthers a year. There are an estimated 200 panthers remaining in the wild, most in southwest Florida.