Florida Fails to Revive Dredge-and-Fill Permit Power on Appeal

The Trump administration can’t turn over a federal wetlands dredge-and-fill permitting program to Florida, a federal appeals panel majority ruled Friday, because the Environmental Protection Agency and US Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t ensure that endangered species would remain protected.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld a lower court’s opinion vacating the federal biological opinion and incidental take permit that gave Florida control over Clean Water Act Section 404 dredge-and-fill permitting within the state. The program, created during the first Trump administration, allowed Florida to solely approve construction and other polluting activities in federal waterways.

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