St. Pete Times Editorial

...the St.Pete Times agrees with our premise of government...and the only way to change that is with voter accountability over land use....it's past time for FHD...we've lost so much already!

Lesley Blackner

Florida builders and developers are using their political clout to make it easier to destroy the state's precious wetlands.

A Times Editorial
August 3, 2005

Now we know how Florida developers keep the upper hand in conflicts over the environment. Their dominance of the political process was detailed in a St. Petersburg Times story Sunday by staff writers Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite. A new state law making it easier to destroy wetlands was not only written by a lobbyist, but politicians beholden to developers pressured the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to relinquish federal authority.

Not surprisingly, after three private meetings with powerful builders and politicians, corps officials say they are inclined to go along. Yet there has been a voice conspicuously absent: one expressing public concern about the state's irreplaceable wetlands.

Drafts of the wetlands bill were written by Frank Matthews, a lobbyist for the Florida Home Builders Association, according to records obtained by the Times. Its sponsor, Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, said Matthews is a friend but that the bill was her idea. Either way it puts the state in charge of permits to destroy wetlands of 10 acres or fewer - 40 percent of such applications.

Now both the state and corps have to approve those wetlands permits. While the corps rarely says no, it's a better process because the corps has different criteria, though it does slow things down. State law requires a decision within 90 days, while the corps can take months to rule. Delays annoy developers but certainly haven't stopped growth.

Once the bill passed and Gov. Bush was persuaded to sign it into law, developers and their friends in high places went to work on the corps. Top corps officials were called into private meetings with developers, Bush's staff and an important elected official - U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, a member of the appropriations committee that oversees corps funding.

Although the corps hasn't announced a decision, it appears it will defer to the state. Col. Robert Carpenter, head of the corps in Florida, didn't meet with environmentalists until last week, apparently after his mind was made up for him. So Floridians are left with the prospect of losing wetlands at an even faster pace.

And the civics lesson is that the democratic principles expressed simply in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address don't apply here. In Florida, it is "government of the developers, by the developers, for the developers."