Environmental group protests relocation of DEP office
BY TRAVIS JAMES
TRITTEN
Citizen Staff
The state Department of
Environmental Protection says it plans eventually to relocate all three
marine biologists from its Key Largo parks office to a district office
about 160 miles to the north.
The move will make the
agency more efficient and will not hinder oversight and study of park
land in the Florida Keys, one of the state's most critical environmental
resources, according to the DEP.
But an environmental
watchdog group based in Washington says relocating biologists will
strain monitoring of beach erosion, coral bleaching and other marine
threats, and force some residents who build docks or marinas near park
land to make an eight-hour, round-trip drive to the district office in
Hobe Sound.
"This is a pristine area
that is very high on the list of national treasures," said Jerry
Phillips, Florida director of Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility. "To close an office that provides that type of function
and then to say we need these people to go back down ... from Hobe
Sound, which is 150 miles away, is kind of nonsensical."
The three regional
biologists monitor state parklands in DEP District 5, which stretches
from Fort Pierce to Key West and includes 24 parks, and review permits
that may have an environmental impact on the parks. The biologist in
charge of the Key Largo office soon will retire, and the position will
not be moved Hobe Sound until after that retirement.
PEER has a petition of
about 441 names, both handwritten and collected from the Internet,
asking that the biologists stay in Key Largo, said Chas Offutt, PEER
spokesman in Washington.
About 400 of the
signatures were collected locally. PEER did not return calls requesting
the name of the petition organizer.
The group was alerted to
the planned change by a state employee, Offutt said.
"All the issues that we
work on are brought forward by public employees," he said. The group
provides legal support to whistleblowers and acts as a "megaphone" for
anonymous employees who report situations that endanger the environment.
PEER said the biologists
are needed more than ever because of recent hurricanes and the
possibility of beach erosion in the area.
The DEP has not
documented a reason for relocating the workers or how it will save the
state money, making the decision "highly suspect," said Phillips, a
former attorney in the DEP Office of General Counsel.
DEP said the change is
not a "cost-cutting" measure — it's about efficiency.
The Hobe Sound district
office is central to the area the biologists serve and will make travel
easier, said Matt Mitchell, spokesman for DEP and the Florida Parks
Service.
"The reasoning is to
centralize park biology staff," Mitchell said. "It is not going to
affect the level of service at all in the Keys."
It is rare the biologists
are needed for an emergency and if one arises, they will be flown to the
islands, he said.
There has been some
opposition to the relocation from employees at the Key Largo office,
Mitchell said.
The biologists could be
moved in October, he said. However, renovation of the Hobe Sound office
has been delayed because of recent hurricanes and an exact date has not
be set.
The DEP will maintain its
Marathon branch office, which issues permits and oversees all local DEP
business outside of public parks.
That office has 10
professional staff members and covers air and water resources, issues
permits for wetlands and submerged lands, and oversees waste management.
ttritten@keysnews.com |
