A federal judge has revoked a federal permit for a Florida limestone mine because of concerns about the impact on habitat used by the critically endangered Florida panther.
Environmentalists hailed the ruling as an important victory for a species in serious peril - only 78 adult Florida panthers are believed to remain in the wild.
The decision issued Friday by Judge James Robertson invalidates a development permit approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Florida Rock Industry mine outside Fort Meyers in Florida's Lee County.
Three conservation groups contested the permit in June 2003, citing concerns that neither the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nor the Army Corps had fully considered the impact of the mine development on panther habitat.
They argued the planned development of the 6,000 acre site would either ruin or fragment habitat needed for the species to survive.
The site is within an area that has been identified by federal and state wildlife officials as Florida panther habitat.
One radio collared panther was recorded on the site of the proposed mine site in May 2001 and four others were recorded within two miles of the site.
Conservationists worry the Florida panther recovery effort is being undermined by decisions that offer little protection for the species long-term future. (Photo by John and Karen Hollingsworth courtesy Fish and Wildlife Service)
The Fish and Wildlife Service said the proposed mine would not jeopardize the survival of the species - the Army Corps issued a "dredge and fill" permit based on that "no jeopardy" finding.
Judge Robertson ruled that the finding reached by the Fish and Wildlife Service was "arbitrary and capricious."
In his decision, the jduge said the agency "failed to provide a proper analysis of the cumulative impact of development upon the panther."
Judge Robertson remanded both decisions for reconsideration with the requirement that cumulative impacts of development be considered.
Neither agency had immediate comment on the decision - the ruling does allow the company to reapply for the permit.
"The Corps and the Wildlife Service have been acting in concert for years by basically rubber stamping development permits in panther habitat," said John Kostyack, an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.
"For the panther, it has meant a death by a thousand cuts, as more and more land is carved out of the cat's essential habitat," Kostyack said. "The court is saying these agencies must take off the blinders and look honestly at what their cumulative decisions mean for panther survival."
There is no doubt the future is bleak for the Florida panther - the species was listed as endangered under federal law in 1967.
Once found throughout the southeastern United States, the species has been decimated by hunting and habitat destruction over the past two centuries.
Currently the single confirmed reproducing population of 78 Florida panthers exists only within a 2.2 million acre range in south Florida.
The primary threat to the species is habitat loss and fragmentation - a problem that has worsened as development in Southwest Florida has boomed in recent decades.
And it is unlikely to improve. Some 50 percent of occupied panther habitat now consists of private lands and much of this lies in three Florida counties - Lee, Collier and Henry.
Recent housing research indicates Lee and Collier are among the top four hottest housing markets in the country.
Conservationists have long questioned the federal government's commitment to saving the Florida panther and their concerns have been echoed by a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist.
In May biologist Andrew Eller, Jr. filed a complaint against the agency for knowingly using flawed science in its assessment of the habitat and population of the endangered Florida panther.
The Florida panther is a solitary, nocturnal animal. (Photo courtesy Fish and Wildlife Service)
Eller said the Fish and Wildlife Service knowingly uses faulty studies to inflate the Florida panther population and minimize the species' habitat needs in order to put the interests of developers ahead of one of the nation's most endangered species.
Eller has worked as a Fish and Wildlife biologist for 17 years and has spent the past decade working in the Florida panther recovery program
In a July 7 response to Eller's complaint, the Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged that "despite being published in peer reviewed scientific journals, some of the information you are challenging has, over time, been determined to have limitations…"
But the agency said it would keep relying on flawed data until 2006.
By that time critics fear several major developments in Southwest Florida may be approved for construction within shrinking panther habitat.
On July 13, the Fish and Wildlife Service served Eller with a notice of proposed termination for "unacceptable" performance.
