by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
A new bill sponsored by State Sen. Jim King effectively neuters the Florida Environmental Protection Act of 1971, opponents are charging.
Up for debate are changes made to the act, which encourages citizens to speak about issues of environmental impact. The 1971 act granted constituents the right to file petitions challenging decisions made by state environmental agencies. It does not address civil suits.
“Sen. King’s bill would require citizens to meet much more stringent requirements just to be able to be heard in the process,” said Warren Anderson, spokesman for the Sierra Club. “Under the bill, citizens will have to show that they themselves will suffer injury of sufficient immediacy to entitle them to a hearing. It allows an administrative law judge to require citizens to post a bond to cover all the developer’s costs and now attorney fees before they can even bring the case.”
Without meeting such criteria, citizens would have no forum to address endangerment to natural resources such as pollution of waterways, clear-cutting of trees and encroachment on wetlands.
King said the protesters were reacting to an outdated version of the bill. “They’re upset over something that doesn’t exist,” he said.
According to City Council vice president Suzanne Jenkins, the bill permits the State to override House rule, forfeiting local autonomy in certain instances.
“The worst part is when an organization wants to take on a project, they have to meet to see if they can afford it,” said Anderson. “With possible attorney fees and costs awarded against us, how many times can we take on the fight? If we’re not looking over their shoulders, our front line defense is weakened. We have to struggle to make photocopies. There should not be an uneven playing field.”
“It [the bill] prohibits citizens from having a legal standing to speak to issues in the administrative process,” added City Council member and mayoral candidate Alberta Hipps. “That process works. I don’t understand why they would bypass that.”
The bill has been circulating through several House committees but has stalled in the Senate. It has not been up for a final vote yet.
According to Lane Welch, executive director of Citizens for a Scenic Florida, Inc., both the North Florida Builders Association and the Farm Bureau support King’s proposal.
“Without a healthy environment, we won’t have a healthy economy,” she said. “We have beautiful natural resources. We’re stripping it bare and limiting citizen’s rights to object to it.”