Don’t let Florida officials get their grubby little hands on fragile federal lands
One of the only positive things about having Rick Scott in Washington is that he can’t do as much damage to Florida ’s environment as a U.S. senator as he did when he was governor.
Unfortunately, one of his administration’s most flagrant schemes to expedite the destruction of wetlands remains very much alive — and is advancing unchallenged by Ron DeSantis, who ironically promotes himself as the “green governor.”
This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold online public hearings on Florida officials’ request to take over the federal program for issuing permits to build in sensitive wetlands.
Developers have been working for years to elbow the feds out of the way, for obvious reasons. State regulators are much easier to shove around.
Currently, under the Clean Water Act, any developer who wants to drain and fill a federal wetland needs a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The EPA can veto that permit if it believes that the project will harm fresh-water sources, for example, or destroy habitat critical to panthers and other endangered wildlife.
Both agencies are now poised to cede their authority to Florida ’s anemic Department of Environmental Protection, which Scott gutted in 2011 at the urging of lobbyists for developers.
More than 600 positions were cut at the DEP, which handles permit requests involving state-designated wetlands. Scott also took an ax to the staff of the regional water-management districts, after packing the governing boards with pro-development appointees.
Many who lost their jobs at DEP and the water districts were long-serving wetland experts, which was no accident. Most major developers hate environmental-impact reviews, so Scott’s solution was to snagged one high-profile congressional assignment: she’s one of three lawmakers appointed to an oversight panel responsible for monitoring $500 billion in taxpayer money used for coronavirus-related payouts to large businesses. The two Republicans and two Democrats who lead the House and Senate were given one pick for the committee. Shalala was Pelosi’s choice, a signal that the Miami lawmaker remains close to the House Speaker, who is likely to remain in charge next year if Democrats maintain their majority.
Shalala’s appointment to the Congressional Oversight Commission led to scrutiny of her vast portfolio of stocks and assets. In response to criticism that she held a financial stake in companies that could apply for federal bailout money — a process she was charged with overseeing — Shalala said she sold most of her stock in 2019 to create a blind trust.
But Shalala never reported the stock sales — 556 in total — until April 2020. Federal law requires members of Congress to report all stock transactions within 45 days.
“I missed the deadline in the process of selling everything,” Shalala said. “I was doing that in 2019 and we didn’t get it finished and we should’ve disclosed the transaction. I take full responsibility for that.” dump the scientists who were most knowledgeable about environmental impacts.
His political mission was to make the permitting process for paving state wetlands as easy as buying a scratch-off ticket. The next logical target was Florida ’s federal wetlands, and the Trump administration seems thrilled to hand them over.
The skeletonized DEP already is swamped with applications, and there’s no way it can effectively take on the permitting workload of the Army Corps and the EPA.
And that’s the dream scenario for Scott. The goal was never to help the DEP effectively protect the environment, but rather to transform the agency into a drive-through speed lane for developers.
Think about it. For a politically connected builder or resort company, it’s much easier to put pressure on some overworked department head in Tallahas
Shalala also failed to report two additional stock sales in April 2019 and March 2020 within 45 days, part of a deferred compensation agreement. Shalala’s spokesperson said the sloppy bookkeeping “came to light because her advisers she relies on weren’t monitoring this closely.”
Salazar said it was another instance of Shalala’s corruption.
“People are sick of politicians like Donna Shalala who think they are above the law,” Salazar tweeted. “Congress[women] are elected to go to Washington to represent the needs of their district not to line their own pockets. Donna Shalala has now broken the law several times.”
The first violation of the law triggered a $1,200 fine. The House Ethics Committee has yet to weigh in on the second violation.
But Salazar went further in her first TV ad, saying Shalala “broke the law to enrich herself off coronavirus.” The ad, which seeks to introduce Salazar to voters and attack Shalala, offers no evidence for the claim and doesn’t explain it.
Shalala’s campaign responded with a cease-anddesist letter to Salazar, calling the claim false and defamatory.
The campaign between Salazar and Shalala isn’t expected to be as competitive as the one between first-year Democratic Rep. see than it is to navigate the vast structure of the Army Corps or EPA in Washington .
In 2018, Florida ’s Republican-led Legislature passed a bill that paved the way for Scott’s hungry grab of federal wetlands — “the Holy Grail,” in the words of one lobbyist for developers.
Hopeful conservationists asked DeSantis to veto the measure, but he didn’t.
And this year, the DEP —
DEP —conveniently scheduled “public hearings” on the issue during the first surge of the pandemic, when most Floridians were preoccupied with not ending up in an ICU.
“Nonstop shenanigans,” says Tania Galloni, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm that has offices in Florida .
Galloni says state officials haven’t yet identified which federally designated wetlands they seek to control, but adds, “They are going to grab whatever
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Republican MiamiDade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. That race has triggered a total of $3.9 million in spending from outside groups.
But there’s only been about $92,000 spent on Shalala and Salazar’s race.
Both parties typically spend heavily on races they think are close.
There is one potential scenario where Salazar could make the race close: if Cuban-Americans, who polling shows are more likely to support Trump in 2020 than in 2016, turn out in droves in South Florida.
Shalala said Trump inevitably will do better among Cuban-American voters this time because when the last presidential election was held, Trump’s attacks on Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush — Republicans vying with him for the presidential nomination — were still fresh.
Also, Salazar is already a familiar face to many older Cuban voters in the district, from her long career in Spanish-language TV.
Even if there’s a swell of Cuban support for Trump in her district, Democratic nominee Joe Biden is likely to win it based on 2016, when Trump lost it by nearly 20 points. Shalala also said Biden will “put conditions on any discussions with the Cuban regime and he has a strong anti-regime position,” another point that will they can.”
Meanwhile the Army Corps, which had asserted primary authority over certain important bodies of water, reportedly has been ordered by the Pentagon to pare that list and yield more to Florida.
The EPA has scheduled virtual hearings for Oct. 21 and Oct. 27. People can pre-register at register.goto webinar.com/register/ 4295139229196503819. The Docket ID No. EPAHQ-OW-2018-0640.
You can also send in comments using that same docket code up until Nov. 2, at regulations.gov. The agency says it will make its final decision on the state’s application no later than Dec. 17.
There’s not much time left for the public to be heard, but that was the plan from the beginning.
All that water and those wild places are yours, but nobody in charge truly yearns to hear your voice.
And if you’re waiting for our green governor to step forward, don’t hold your breath. Yellow is his true color when facing up to the big developers and lobbyists who are helping to bankroll his political future. likely play well with Cuban-American voters.
Shalala said she’s worked on building name recognition and trust among Cuban voters in her district after her lack of fluency in Spanish during her 2018 campaign made some Democrats nervous in a district that is 72% Hispanic. She did 21 inperson town meetings that were translated into Spanish before the pandemic hit and continued holding virtual meetings over the last six months.
“The people in Little Havana know me. The people in senior centers know me,” said Shalala. “The guys in Little Havana that play dominoes, when I go there they yell ‘La Shalala.’ I’ve been able to reach the community and everything I’ve done has been in Spanish and English.”
Shalala said Cuba and Venezuela will continue to be a focus in Congress if she wins. She passed legislation that prevents the
U.S. from selling crowd control gear like rubber bullets and riot shields to Venezuela and said she has “no respect” for the Cuban government.
“That regime has destroyed the country and destroyed lives,” Shalala said. “I’m more of a hardliner than most Democrats.”