A presidential proposal issued Monday by the Bush Administration could potentially affect more than 14,000 Keys property owners. President Bush plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether certain construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.
An executive order could void a 2005 injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore against the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Moore’s ruling froze FEMA from issuing flood insurance policies to nearly 50,000 Keys properties for new construction on lands that could shelter endangered species. That list has since been reduced to 14,000 properties.
Key West attorney David Paul Horan represents a client in Islamorada who owns eight acres of waterfront property put on the original endangered species list. He said the property owner agreed not to build on 90 percent of the land in order to redevelop two existing homes, but has been unable to do so since Moore’s injunction.
“There ought to be a standard that says you have to use the best available scientific data. If you used the best available data you could say, ‘This is a lot in the middle of a subdivision with houses on three sides. Why am I included?’” Horan said, describing his client’s Islamorada property.
Bush’s proposal apparently does not require the approval of Congress and would reduce independent scientific reviews of projects that need federal authorization. Government scientists have conducted such reviews for 35 years.
The president’s announcement deals mainly with the Endangered Species Act, but changes would apply to any project a federal agency would fund, build or authorize, according to the Associated Press. The Interior Department signaled that outside reviews are not necessary because agencies have developed expertise to review their own construction and development projects.
The AP indicated that federal agencies must now consult the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service to determine whether a project will damage endangered species or habitats. Representatives of environmental groups were critical of the Bush plan.
“If adopted, these changes would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years,” John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation told the AP.
Horan also represents New Stock Island Properties, a company proposing a redevelopment project on Stock Island that includes a 300-room hotel, ferry terminal boardwalk, a boat yard and 260 boat slips, among other amenities.
He admitted procuring U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permits for docks is a time-consuming process, but said he wouldn’t trust a single agency to make broad-stroke decisions on development.
“I can’t imagine they would do that. I’ve always been concerned about who to trust when they talk about endangered species because that’s a political issue,” Horan said, despite acknowledging that Bush’s plan would seemingly remove layers of government from making development decisions.
“If you were going to pick a place in the U.S. for a marina, the one place you would not pick is Monroe County because there’s so many layers you have to go through,” he said.
The AP says that whatever specifics Bush proposes to curtail outside scientific reviews, the next president or Congress could reverse his edict. But the news agency says both would be time consuming.
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