[Coral-List] Florida judge rules to protect Palm Beach County reefs

[Etichscuba at aol.com]

Florida  judge rules to protect Palm Beach County reefs.   
Palm  Beach, FL –Administrative Law  Judge Robert E. Meale ruled Monday that 
the Town of Palm Beach be denied a  dredge and fill permit.  Judge Meale, in a 
277 page decision took a firm  stand on reef protection (page 231):  “Because 
of the rare confluence of conditions required for its creation,  the Florida 
Reef Tract cannot be replaced in any timeframe short of geologic  time, so its 
protection, even from remote risks, must be a matter of exceptional  
regulatory concern.”  “…the performance of the beach, filled with excessive  fines, 
poses a potential threat to the offshore reef. Storm-driven plumes of  
unnatural turbidity can carry these particles from [the fill area] Reach 8 to  the 
offshore reef, where they may settle on the coral, obviously harming or  killing 
this critical resource 
In March of 2008,  Collins & West, P.A. representing the Surfrider 
Foundation, Snook  Foundation, and three individuals filed suit against the FDEP for 
approving a  Joint Coastal Permit for the Town of Palm Beach to nourish beaches 
(Reach 8).   The Town of Palm Beach intervened on behalf of  the DEP, and the 
City of Lake  Worth and Eastern Surfing Association intervened in  opposition 
of the project.  The trial lasted three weeks, ending in October  of last year. 
Collins & West  press release @: http://www.collins-west.com/News.asp 
See the 277 page  ruling @: 
_http://www.doah.state.fl.us/ros/2008/08001511.pdf_ (http://www.doah.state.fl.us/ros/2008/08001511.pdf)  
Ed  Tichenor 
Palm Beach County Reef  Rescue 
561  699-8559 
_www.reef-rescue.org_ (http://www.reef-rescue.org/) 
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