Federal agencies did not safeguard Florida Keys wildlife

[Keys Treasures]

By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL
Associated Press Writer
March 29. 2005 7:59PM

A federal judge Tuesday ruled that the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not do enough to protect
endangered species in the Florida Keys in the implementation of a flood
insurance program.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said the two agencies must consult
and improve their efforts to protect the eight species from
infrastructure projects in the Keys, said Randy Sargent, a lawyer for
the National Wildlife Federation.

She sued on behalf of the Florida Key deer, the Key Largo cotton mouse,
Key Largo woodrat, Lower Keys marsh rabbit, Schaus' swallowtail
butterfly, sliver rice rat, Stock Island tree snail and the Key tree
cactus.

Sargent said FEMA will have to "devise a way in which they can issue
their flood insurance and protect the species."

FEMA refused to comment on the ruling.

"The department of justice and FEMA policy prohibit the agency from
commenting on matters in litigation," said James McIntyre, a FEMA
spokesman. McIntyre said he could not comment on whether the ruling
would be appealed.

The lawsuit, filed in 1997 with "Florida Key Deer" as the lead
plaintiff, was rooted in a FEMA program that grants flood insurance to
people who build in flood plains, areas which are also habitat to one
or more of the eight endangered species in the Keys.

"The animals essentially did win," said Sargent. "The problem was the
protective measures really didn't offer any protection."

Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968.
Communities can enroll in it, making the insurance available to their
residents, if they agree to certain land-use and flood-control
measures. Those typically include building dikes and dams that channel
water away from developed areas that would otherwise flood.

Sargent said the lawsuit was instigated by an opinion written by the
Fish and Wildlife Service that the animal species were being put "in
jeopardy of going extinct because of the way the National Flood
Insurance Program is being run ... NFIP allows development allows to go
forward where it normally wouldn't go forward."