FLORIDA –  The Florida State House Environment, Agriculture and Flooding Subcommittee has approved a measure allowing private developers to offset the impact of their projects on Florida's coastal estuaries by allowing them to pay for seagrass restoration or other mitigation efforts somewhere elsewhere.

The bill would authorize an Internal Improvement Trust Fund Board to create a seagrass mitigation bank. 

Bill 1335 was introduced by Representative Tyler Sirois who represents Merritt Island.

“Seagrass is essential to the health and vitality of Florida’s rivers, estuaries, and coastlines,” said Rep. Sirois in a news release. “It serves as a habitat and food source for a variety of marine life including fish and manatees, while also helping to reduce erosion of our shorelines.”

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) currently issues permits for any development project that may destroy patches of sea grass within state waters.

Mitigation banking is the practice of allowing the permit holder to buy credits which would be applied towards the cost of a mitigation effort such as planting seagrass to make up for whatever seagrass or other damage was done by the developers project.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) or the regional Water Management District would decide how many credits are required for purchase by the developer.

Projects such as seawalls, piers and dredging require the developer to devise and carry out a mitigation plan. Under the bill acceptable mitigation projects could include the restoration of a wetland habitat, the removal of a derelict vessel from a waterway, or the repair of propeller scars in seagrass flats.

The Environment Committee voted 13-3 to advance the proposal on to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee. Three democratic representatives voted against the bill arguing it would not help restore seagrass beds already lost, but merely offset the expected environmental damage from yet another new development.

A companion bill has been introduced by Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez, a republican representing Homestead. Bill 1668 is scheduled to be heard in the State Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources,

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