06.06.16

Grijalva Urges Agencies to Block Further Florida Coral Reef Damage as Recent Reports Show Considerable Endangered Species Risks

Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today sent a letter to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Assistant Administrator Eileen Sobeck urging them to prevent further Army Corps of Engineers destruction of threatened corals in South Florida. The letter comes in the wake of confirmed reports that the Army Corps and its contractors repeatedly violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by illegally killing listed staghorn coral during the recently completed Port of Miami dredging project.

The Corp’s pending Port Everglades dredging project in Broward County, Fla., which stands to be approved in the Water Resources Development Act awaiting a vote in Congress, presents similar risks, highlighting the need for vigorous NOAA enforcement of endangered species protections should the project move forward, Grijalva writes. The letter is available at http://1.usa.gov/1Uaaslw.

“This isn’t a question of limited resources or competing interests – it’s a question of acting quickly to save endangered species before we destroy them,” Grijalva said today. “These coral reefs are some of the most diverse, productive and imperiled habitats anywhere in the United States. NOAA and the Corps have the legal authority to restore the damage done at Miami and prevent anything like this from happening again. They should use it without delay.”

Grijalva’s letter asks NMFS to use its ESA authority to require the Army Corps to mitigate its Miami dredging project’s impacts on coral and to reevaluate the Port Everglades project before corals are damaged there.

Correspondence between NMFS and NOAA shows that the Army Corps far exceeded the environmental impacts allowed under the ESA “take statement” issued by NMFS for the Port of Miami project, which began in 2012 and was completed earlier this year. The correspondence also shows the Corps ignored NMFS requests to improve its operations and remediate damage.

The Corps requested authorization to dredge Port Everglades using the same flawed assumptions that greatly underestimated the coral damage that ultimately occurred in Miami.

June 8 is World Oceans Day. The coral reefs off of Florida’s Atlantic Coast, including six species of ESA listed corals, form the only coral reef system in the continental United States. In addition to contributing to coastal protection, fisheries productivity, and ocean health, the reef is a huge tourist attraction. Coral reef activities in South Florida generate an estimated $3.4 billion in economic activity and support 36,000 jobs annually.

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