38th Environmental Permitting Summer School

The One Water Commission will cover the mission, makeup up and goals of the recently formed One Water Commission of Florida. Speakers will review the need for recognition of one water initiatives, in legislation, state rules, and funding. This is extremely timely due to Senate Bill 64’s requirement to diversify the use of wastewater effluent for the benefit of communities, industry and the environment by 2032! Please come ready to discuss how the One Water Commission can help utilities diversify the use of their effluent in manners that benefit Florida for generations to come!

It’s like déjà vu all over again. Florida started its 404 Program in a hole, receiving over 1,000 wetland permit applications from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in December 2020. The Corps may now be operating from a similarly sized hole, with over 1,000 wetland permit applications that were pending with FDEP when Florida’s Program was abruptly vacated by a D.C. federal judge in February. Florida is wrassling to get the program back through the appeals process, and if successful, could end up in another permit application hole for a “threepeat.” This panel of experts will discuss the status of the 404 litigation initiated by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Corps’ 404 permit implementation process and why the Herculean efforts of the state and federal wildlife agencies got blamed for it all.

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. 

Always a timely and useful course to provide updates on the most current information and activities with the Department of Environmental Protection which we feel will be of most interest to our attendees; includes review and analysis of rules and policies recently adopted or under development, including the latest updates on the Stormwater TAC, OSTDS TAC, and any published reports; key/practical tips for all private/public regulated interests; course format designed for extensive 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. 

Always a timely and useful course to provide updates on the most current information and activities with the Department of Environmental Protection which we feel will be of most interest to our attendees; includes review and analysis of rules and policies recently adopted or under development, including the latest updates on the Stormwater TAC, OSTDS TAC, and any published reports; key/practical tips for all private/public regulated interests; course format designed for extensive audience participation.

In this extremely popular panel of experts on Lake Okeechobee, the panel is again presenting on critical issues affecting Lake Okeechobee and the Northern Estuaries.  

Part 1 This year, numerous developing issues are affecting the Lake, including the new lake schedule “LOSOM” being implemented by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the ASR program north of the lake. In this 2-part course, the panel will focus on these latest developments, as well as the Herbert Hoover Dike Rehabilitation, endangered species, water quality, and the status of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects that affect the Lake.

Part 2  The panel represents a diverse cross-section of government, private landowners, tribal entities, and environmental and agricultural interests. The panel will discuss how Lake management decisions affect their differing interests and obligations and the varying issues that must be balanced to make effective decisions.

In this extremely popular panel of experts on Lake Okeechobee, the panel is again presenting on critical issues affecting Lake Okeechobee and the Northern Estuaries.  

Part 1 This year, numerous developing issues are affecting the Lake, including the new lake schedule “LOSOM” being implemented by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the ASR program north of the lake. In this 2-part course, the panel will focus on these latest developments, as well as the Herbert Hoover Dike Rehabilitation, endangered species, water quality, and the status of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects that affect the Lake.

Part 2  The panel represents a diverse cross-section of government, private landowners, tribal entities, and environmental and agricultural interests. The panel will discuss how Lake management decisions affect their differing interests and obligations and the varying issues that must be balanced to make effective decisions.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is a visionary plan to conserve and connect some of Florida's most important places. Legislative leaders have made the Wildlife Corridor a priority for state conservation spending. Nearly half of the corridor's 18 million acres are already managed as conservation land. Of the remainder, 3/4ths is agricultural land. Planning the future of the corridor depends on both traditional and newer strategies including preservation, conservation easements and paying for the ecosystem services privately owned land provides. The panel of experts will discuss the prospects for this audacious conservation plan.