38th Environmental Permitting Summer School

Stay current on laws/rules, Get up to speed on the latest ethics cases, Protect yourself in contracts, and Reduce your exposure to risks

Come join our panel of experts in a 4-hour interactive, small group setting, as they provide the practicing engineer with the keys to a successful practice, including the essential updates that govern the practice of engineering in the state of Florida, issues affecting federal contractors and subcontractors, and the latest “best practices” to manage professional risk to yourself and your firm. Our experts will help guide you with concrete strategies and tips for managing risks, including work practices, protective contract language, and deciphering the complexities of other risk management tools such as insurance and bonding. Additionally, you will receive the latest instruction on any changes to the rules and statutes affecting the engineer, as well as any guidance resulting from individual disciplinary and unlicensed practice cases. This session will also include a one-hour presentation on Engineer Ethics to fulfill the Florida Board of Professional Engineering Continuing Education requirement for the renewal cycle. During the presentation, we will discuss, in-depth, some specific disciplinary cases related to Ethics and a Case Study in Professional Engineer Ethics. Don’t miss this opportunity to tune up your professional practice knowledge and prepare yourself and your firm to manage professional risk. (As a bonus, you will also be satisfying your biennial Laws, Rules, and Ethics continuing education requirements in a far more rewarding way than taking another online quiz!) Instructors: Michael Harding, Kellie Tomeo

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! 

Many imperiled wildlife species spend some if not all of their life-cycles in Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in developing effective regulations that promote the conservation and management of imperiled species and habitats in Florida. The members of this panel have been actively involved in the development and implementation of these important management practices, policies, guidelines, and regulations. The panel will review current federal and state regulations, and discuss emerging issues affecting imperiled wildlife species and habitat and how those issues could affect land uses in Florida. Bring your questions—this panel encourages panelist collaboration and audience participation!

The continued population growth in our State has triggered substantial challenges regarding land use, availability of water (quantity and quality), and clean, developable land with ready infrastructure. As part of an urban infill approach to preserve green lands,  some of the alternatives to accommodate population growth are closed golf courses and available former agricultural land located near urban areas. However, these options present a unique set of challenges ranging from soil and groundwater contamination on and off property boundaries to comp plans changes, to administrative challenges by affected parties to land development.  Another challenge is achieving environmental closure on contamination using Institutional Controls. Even in the face of these seemingly difficult challenges, opportunities to redevelop golf courses and former ag land exist.  How can some of these issues be resolved? What does it take to achieve land development that is environmentally sustainable and protective of human health? This is a timely topic, and the class was standing-room only in 2023. The class is designed so the audience can learn to navigate the process and how some of these challenges are currently being met. The round table forum allows for plenty of audience participation and feedback.

Beaches are a valuable resource in Florida, as they provide storm protection to upland infrastructure, nesting habitat to sea turtles, and recreational value to tourists and locals. Since coastal development and navigation inlets have interrupted the natural littoral drift of sediment along much of Florida’s coastline, it is necessary to nourish these sandy beaches on a recurring basis. Additional development within this dynamic and sensitive coastal beach environment requires a special permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This course examines the regulatory framework and practical aspects of Florida’s beach management and Coastal Construction Control Line programs and covers current agency procedures and practices; emerging agency policy; and special permitting considerations for storm impact planning and emergency response, including appropriate use of coastal armoring structures. Always a timely and informative course.

Extremely timely and informative course will “cover the bases” from NEPA to permitting; critical environmental issues including Johnson Seagrass, ESA protected marine species and essential fish habitat, sea turtles, and marine mammals; use of UMAM and HEA for determining mitigation requests; examples of lessons learned in dealing with and applying federal and state requirements to seaports, beach renourishment, and coastal development; discussion of emerging issues. Audience participation is encouraged!

Come listen and learn from a panel of experts as they discuss the latest changes to federal environmental policies and regulations under the Biden Administration. This session examines how the policies and roles of the federal agencies are changing across a wide spectrum of issues such as enforcement, agency size, the extent of federal authority over wetlands and waters, and climate change. The experts will also discuss how the regulated community, the state, and advocacy groups are responding to such changes including the potential for citizen enforcement. These and other federal issues will be discussed by our well-informed panel. Come prepared to listen, learn and participate. 

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.

Discussion of integrating regional water supply plans of local government with the plans and projects of water utilities through a prescribed planning process requiring cooperation between water management districts and local and regional water management districts and local and regional water utilities; regulatory incentives for the development of alternative water supplies; financial assistance for utilities; linking the growth management plans of local governments with the plans and projects of water utilities; applying the principles of consistency with concurrency as set forth in Florida law and implementing rules. Audience participation is encouraged.

To prevent significant harm to the water resource, the water management districts must adopt minimum flows and levels (MFLs) for waterbodies and groundwater according to an annual priority list. If the waterbody does not meet or is projected not to meet, the adopted minimum flow or level, the district must adopt a recovery or prevention strategy. Some districts are re-evaluating their minimum flows and levels to see if they were set correctly. Minimum flows and levels and their associated prevention or recovery strategies can affect water users by causing cutbacks on existing sources, forcing the development of alternative water supplies, and forcing participation in aquifer or surface water body recharge projects, in each case creating general uncertainty. A Water Reservation sets aside a volume of water for the protection of fish and wildlife or public health and safety.  Reserved volumes of water are unavailable for allocation to consumptive uses. This course focuses on the process by which MFLs and water reservations are developed and adopted, while also identifying where MFLs and water reservations are already in place or are scheduled for adoption in the future, how water users are impacted, and what you can do to protect your water uses. 

As industries move toward a carbon-free society, they are faced with regulatory and operational challenges.  Florida industry representatives from mining, power, ports, and municipalities will discuss their action plans and policies and the benefits (and costs) of moving towards a carbon-free society.