Press Release

www.IndianRiverkeeper.org/press

Date:               February 16, 2005

Contacts:        Kevin Stinnette, Indian Riverkeeper, (772 336-7284, IRkeeper@gate.net)

                        Attorney Robert Hartsell of the Environmental & Land Use Law Center, (561-844-5222 Robert@elulc.org)

Indian Riverkeeper Asks Federal Court for an Injunction against Continued Shoreline Destruction

Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. — Today Indian Riverkeeper filed a request for a temporary restraining order that would stop work on the Indian River Drive shoreline armoring project in St. Lucie County until an environmental impact statement is completed. The filing, in federal court (Ft. Lauderdale), challenges the project because it was developed without consideration of the impacts upon the sensitive environment of the Indian River Lagoon.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires that such projects should be funded only after a thorough analysis of impacts and alternatives. The decision to forever alter the function and natural beauty of the shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon was made with insufficient information. The Federal Highway Administration, Florida Department of Transportation and St. Lucie County have failed to comply with the requirements of federal law.

“We have conducted extensive analysis of the potential consequences, the currently ongoing impacts and the scope of the project as it relates to the health and safety issues used to justify it.” said Kevin Stinnette, the Indian Riverkeeper. “The decision to make drastic and permanent alterations to the function and natural environment of the shoreline was arbitrary and capricious. We are asking the judge to send them back to square one for the sake of future generations.”

 “The categorical exemption from federal requirements assumed by the Federal Highway Administration is inappropriate for the measures being taken to stabilize the roadway.” said Attorney Robert Hartsell. “They are classifying heavy maintenance as something much more urgent.”

In a declaration filed with the request today distinguished Marine Biologist R. Grant Gilmore, Jr., Ph.D., (Senior Scientist, Estuarine, Coastal and Ocean Science, Inc. (ECOS)) said of the project, “There should be an allowance for potential grave environmental impacts, particularly when they are large enough to deleteriously impact the local economy in the long run.”

Marine biologist Dr. Peter Barile also composed a declaration which included the effects of a hardened shoreline and the potential for it to cause increased erosion of the beaches below it. In it he says, “The potential loss of these beaches will result in periods of turbid and stagnant nearshore water where excessive macroalgae buildup from prevailing east and southeast winds will occur. Degradation of this biomass will subsequently lead to localized hypoxia and anoxia with resulting decrease in habitat and fisheries value. These undesirable conditions regularly occur in proximity to many armored and modified portions of the western shores of the lagoon to the north in the Melbourne area.”

There is a likelihood that the altered shoreline could make longstanding problems with decaying sea weed much worse. Residents have complained of the smell of rotting sea weed for years, the odors could become much more intense and frequent.

Jim Egan, who is the chief editor and contributing author of a manual on shoreline restoration used by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, who has invented several shoreline restoration techniques currently being utilized in over five counties and who has served as Executive Director for the Marine Resources Council for the past seven years, also provided a declaration. In it he attests that, “Lighter materials such as concrete are more buoyant in water (than alternative materials), more likely to be dislodged by wave activity, and prohibited by the Saint John’s River Water Management District and local governments such as Brevard County due to its lack of effectiveness and impact on shoreline resources. 

The court has only to look at the history of sediment control problems that led to stop work orders on the project to see the kind of consequence Indian Riverkeeper asks that an Environmental Impact Statement examine. Indian Riverkeeper pictures of collapsing grades on completed segments show the need for extensive scrutiny of this plan.

“Damage I feared five years down the road is already happening,” said the Indian Riverkeeper, “the long term effects could be disastrous. If it takes ripping the concrete out and using an alternative plan to protect the estuary, then that is what we will call for. ”

For more information on the project and the suit please visit http://www.indianriverkeeper.org/shoreplan/armoring.htm

The mission of the Indian Riverkeeper is to protect and restore the waters of North America's most diverse estuary, the Indian River Lagoon, its tributaries, fisheries and habitats through advocacy, enforcement and citizen action