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Sierra Club files lawsuit against St. Johns River Water Management District
Nov 20, 2014, 2:26pm EST
Jensen Werley
Reporter- Jacksonville Business Journal
The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against the St. Johns River Water Management District on Wednesday for violating the public trust.
The lawsuit, filed in an Orlando federal court, was prompted when the management district decided it was allowed to remove conservation easements from federal mitigation banks, meaning it would no longer be protected.
The water management district is in charge of granting conservation easements for more than 30 federal mitigation banks.
The Water Management District has reportedly allowed for more than 1,000 acres to be removed from the Farmton Mitigation Bank, the largest, according to the lawsuit.
The Sierra Club's complaint claims the actions violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as well as violates the Federal Clean Water Act which mandates perpetual conservation of these banks.
The mitigation banks, part of the Clean Water Act, mandate there be zero net loss of wetlands. The complaint questions how the district can assure zero net loss when it is reportedly removing those conservation easements.
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/11/20/sierra-club-files-lawsuit-against-st-johns-river.html
Were the mitigation credits issued by the bank? If not, seems perfectly reasonable to remove the conservation easement.
The head of the WMD is an "Advisor" to Conservation Trust For Florida,an organization keenly involved in Conservation Easement.
Where's the Pop Corn?