Florida’s wetlands permitting program will remain on ice after a federal judge Friday ruled against the state Department of Environmental Protection’s bid to retain authority over some permit applications.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss halted the program in February, ruling that EPA had erred in handing Clean Water Act permitting authority over to the state without sufficiently analyzing the impact it would have on endangered species. But he had left open in that ruling the possibility that the state could temporarily retain control over permit applications that didn’t involve species listed under the 1973 law.
Florida requested a limited stay of the ruling, but the Department of Justice opposed the move, arguing it would be unduly burdensome even just to figure out how to divvy up the workload. In his Friday ruling, Moss agreed.
“The Court is persuaded that a limited stay is neither workable nor desirable,” he concluded.
