Miami Corporation wants to build a new city in and around a 24,000 acre wilderness that it turned into a wetland mitigation bank. Miami Corporation is paid millions of dollars to save this land forever. But now Miami Corporation has applied to the US Army Corps of Engineers to remove land from the bank and start construction of the new city.
In 2000, Miami Corporation contracted with the US government to turn this wilderness into the Farmton Mitigation Bank—the largest mitigation bank in the United States. This land, part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor project, is home to many disappearing species, including the black bear, the bobcat, and possibly the Florida Panther.
Tell Meg Gaffney-Smith, (Chief of Regulatory Program of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) & Osvaldo Collazo (Branch Chief of Jacksonville District of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) that Farmton Mitigation Bank is a forever bank and Miami Corporation’s application must be rejected.
http://www.facebook.com/SaveFarmtonMitigationBank
Dear U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ms Meg Gaffney-Smith (Chief of Regulatory Program) and Mr. Osvaldo Collazo (Branch Chief of Jacksonville District:
The theory underlying wetland mitigation banking is that wetland destruction caused by construction is offset by the eternal preservation of wetlands in a mitigation bank. At 24,000 acres, Farmton Mitigation Bank is the largest such bank in the US. This bank is an irreplaceable ecological treasure that Miami Corporation is paid millions of dollars to save forever.
Allowing Miami Corporation to remove land from the Farmton Mitigation Bank in order to begin construction of a giant city with a population of 53,000 makes a mockery of the Clean Water Act and wetland mitigation banking. It is also a violation of the 2008 federal rule governing mitigation banking.
Reject Miami Corporation’s application to remove land from this crucial bank.
Make Miami Corporation live up to the contract it made with the United States back in 2000: to protect and preserve this irreplaceable land forever! Say NO to Permit SAJ-1998-1836-MLH.
