(CN) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service illegally handed over wetlands permitting authority under the Clean Water Act to the state of Florida, a Washington, D.C., federal judge ruled on Thursday, handing a major win to seven environmental groups behind the challenge.
The agencies violated the Endangered Species Act when they allowed Florida to assume authority over evaluating the impacts that discharge permits have on imperiled wetland species, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled.
“After considering these requests and weighing the seriousness of the defects as well as the potential disruptive consequences of vacatur, the court concludes that the appropriate remedy is to vacate the EPA’s approval of Florida’s assumption application,” the Obama-appointed judge wrote.
The environmental groups behind the case claimed that Florida’s method of handling permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act did not satisfy the standards set by the Endangered Species Act.
As a result of the Trump-era move, the Sunshine State became one of only three states granted an application to assume this type of permitting authority. Michigan and New Jersey were previously granted this authority in 1984 and 1994, respectively.
Moss ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s programmatic biological opinion failed to include the necessary analysis and data to determine whether the EPA’s action in approving Florida’s program would jeopardize species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The judge also found that another document prepared by the Fish and Wildlife Service, known as an incidental take statement, is unlawful. That's because the statement failed to quantify the permissible “take,” or harm, of listed species resulting from the agency action, nor did it set a requirement for immediate consultation between the agencies if species are impacted more than expected.
The documents were “legally flawed,” and the EPA “unreasonably relied on [them] in approving Florida’s assumption application,” Moss ruled.
“Given the wealth of information and experience that the [Fish and Wildlife Service] has in assessing threats to listed species in Florida, the [Service] was at least required to offer some meaningful explanation for why it could not do more,” the judge wrote.
In a statement to Courthouse News on Friday, a spokesperson for the EPA said the agency is reviewing the decision.
Moss's ruling means that those seeking permits to impact wetlands must use Endangered Species Act provisions to ensure that threatened and endangered species are protected.
“Restoring the Endangered Species Act protections will ensure that these projects get the analysis and review Congress intended to protect threatened and endangered species,” Earthjustice attorney Bonnie Malloy said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection did not immediately provide a comment on the ruling when reached Friday evening.
Florida took over permitting under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act in December 2020. The EPA oversaw Florida’s program by reviewing draft permits.
The state’s move was almost immediately challenged by seven environmental groups represented by Earthjustice, which filed a lawsuit in January 2021.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Florida Wildlife Federation, Miami Waterkeeper and St. Johns Riverkeeper.
The groups argued that the federal agencies and officials violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act in their rush to transfer permitting authority to Florida in the final days of the Trump administration.
The decision on Thursday came after two of the groups requested a preliminary injunction to block the state from issuing permits for two developments in wetlands areas. They said the developments posed an imminent threat to the critically endangered Florida panther and the threatened crested caracara, a rare bird of prey.
“The court’s ruling restores essential guardrails provided by the Endangered Species Act," said Elizabeth Fleming, senior Florida representative at Defenders of Wildlife. "Requiring agencies to follow the law is a win for wildlife, protecting habitat and the public alike, as protecting our wetlands also protects drinking water and ecosystems across the state,”
Moss’s ruling only resolved part of the lawsuit. Issues raised by the plaintiffs concerning other violations of the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedure Act remain before the court.
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