38th Environmental Permitting Summer School

This course was new in 2021 and is back by popular demand! Stream restoration projects can provide numerous benefits to the watershed and local communities; including pollutant attenuation, enhanced fish and wildlife habitat, flood hazard reduction, erosion control, and improved quality of life and economic stimulus through enhanced recreation. This course focuses on the different components that encompass stream restoration projects, which include project siting and acquisition, stream classification, feasibility, design and permitting, construction and post-construction monitoring, and more. This session will highlight case studies with innovative stream restoration techniques specifically suited for Florida conditions. Circumstances favoring turnkey and watershed solutions, versus modular and local services, will be discussed. In addition, panelists will share how stream restoration as a BMP could provide water quality credits for BMAPs and future banking opportunities. Come prepared with your questions for this panel of experts! Audience participation is highly encouraged! 

Think Environmental Permitting in Florida is an old hat? Think again! This important area of law is constantly evolving, formally or otherwise. This extremely informative (and perhaps even a little fun) course combines the legal principles of ERP permitting, including policy and rulemaking updates, with practical tips for achieving compliance and avoiding process “pitfalls” from regulators and practitioners. The presentation will be led by lawyers and scientists from the public and private sector who will engage in free flowing dialogue with the audience whenever possible. Questions are highly encouraged! The course assumes a working knowledge of the ERP process and criteria, and it is intended to examine emerging issues that make or break applications, including those subjected to the extraordinary scrutiny of an administrative hearing, and what those issues mean for ERP applicants.

This excellent course provides the latest updates to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Section 404 (Clean Water Act) and Section 10 (Rivers and Harbors Act) permitting process, including best practices for navigating through their complexities. Our panel of experts will feature step-by-step analysis of the ACOE permitting process including illustrative case study examples; emphasis on the key components to enhancing the speed of the application process; and avoiding pitfalls and other time sinks in order to obtain a favorable ACOE decision. This advanced course is designed for active audience participation. 

This course will provide a detailed and in-depth breakdown of all aspects and components necessary for the environmental professional to obtain an ERP permit in an efficient and effective manner. This course will take the audience through all the steps in the review and issuance of an ERP permit including an administrative permit challenge. In addition, the course will discuss how new and proposed rules and policies are affecting the permitting process. Learn from this highly-experienced panel all of the essential criteria and policies, including wetland and mitigation requirements, stormwater requirements, water quality and administrative and legal requirements critical to finalize a permit. This course is a must for environmental professionals who want to understand all aspects of ERP permitting to better represent their clients and deliver efficient results. Audience participation is encouraged. 

This course is updated every year to address recent rule and policy changes at the state and federal levels. If you want to know precisely how wetland jurisdiction is determined, and the subtle and not so subtle differences between Florida’s uniform statewide wetland methodology and Federal wetland methodology, and how these differences may or may not apply to your project after the state assumption of the Federal 404 program, this is your course! This carefully designed panel discussion will analyze state and COE wetland jurisdictions, making use of comparisons and contrasts as appropriate; covers application of vegetation, soils and hydrologic indicators in determining presence of wetlands using state and COE methodologies; covers altered and non-altered sites; emphasis on practical application and dispute resolution; examples and case studies will be discussed. You will also hear the latest updates on wetlands law and regulation at the federal level, including the status of recent and ongoing legal challenges, any new guidance or policy put forward by the new Administration, and what they could mean for development in Florida. This course is designed for extensive audience participation. 

The growth of Florida’s mitigation banking industry has resulted in over 100 permitted banks providing mitigation to 4,000+ projects throughout the state. As the industry evolves, changes in regulatory and policy standards are inevitable. This course focuses on recent changes on a national and state level that affect the mitigation banking industry and associated development in Florida. Prospective and current mitigation bankers and users of mitigation bank credits need to understand these changes to ensure compliance and to achieve efficient and timely permit processing. Updates will be provided on USACE’s new Mitigation Banking Instrument, new Financial Assurance requirements, changes in the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and mitigation challenges associated with Florida DOT projects.

This excellent course provides the latest updates to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Section 404 (Clean Water Act) and Section 10 (Rivers and Harbors Act) permitting process, including best practices for navigating through their complexities. Our panel of experts will feature step-by-step analysis of the ACOE permitting process including illustrative case study examples; emphasis on the key components to enhancing the speed of the application process; and avoiding pitfalls and other time sinks in order to obtain a favorable ACOE decision. This advanced course is designed for active audience participation. 

This course is updated every year to address recent rule and policy changes at the state and federal levels. If you want to know precisely how wetland jurisdiction is determined, and the subtle and not so subtle differences between Florida’s uniform statewide wetland methodology and Federal wetland methodology, and how these differences may or may not apply to your project after the state assumption of the Federal 404 program, this is your course! This carefully designed panel discussion will analyze state and COE wetland jurisdictions, making use of comparisons and contrasts as appropriate; covers application of vegetation, soils and hydrologic indicators in determining presence of wetlands using state and COE methodologies; covers altered and non-altered sites; emphasis on practical application and dispute resolution; examples and case studies will be discussed. You will also hear the latest updates on wetlands law and regulation at the federal level, including the status of recent and ongoing legal challenges, any new guidance or policy put forward by the new Administration, and what they could mean for development in Florida. This course is designed for extensive audience participation.

In Florida, the Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM) is used by local, state and federal regulatory agencies to determine the amount of mitigation necessary to offset impacts to wetlands and other surface waters and the number of mitigation credits to be assigned to a mitigation bank. This course will focus on UMAM fundamentals with additional discussion reflecting any recent policy or rule changes under consideration by the FDEP and the panel’s experience with thousands of individual UMAM assessments. Audience participation is encouraged. 

This course will provide a detailed and in-depth breakdown of all aspects and components necessary for the environmental professional to obtain an ERP permit in an efficient and effective manner. This course will take the audience through all the steps in the review and issuance of an ERP permit including an administrative permit challenge. In addition, the course will discuss how new and proposed rules and policies are affecting the permitting process. Learn from this highly-experienced panel all of the essential criteria and policies, including wetland and mitigation requirements, stormwater requirements, water quality and administrative and legal requirements critical to finalize a permit. This course is a must for environmental professionals who want to understand all aspects of ERP permitting to better represent their clients and deliver efficient results. Audience participation is encouraged. 

Think Environmental Permitting in Florida is an old hat? Think again! This important area of law is constantly evolving, formally or otherwise. This extremely informative (and perhaps even a little fun) course combines the legal principles of ERP permitting, including policy and rulemaking updates, with practical tips for achieving compliance and avoiding process “pitfalls” from regulators and practitioners. The presentation will be led by lawyers and scientists from the public and private sector who will engage in free flowing dialogue with the audience whenever possible. Questions are highly encouraged! The course assumes a working knowledge of the ERP process and criteria, and it is intended to examine emerging issues that make or break applications, including those subjected to the extraordinary scrutiny of an administrative hearing, and what those issues mean for ERP applicants.