MyUSTINET News: Settlement In Florida Suit Affects Turtles

MIAMI, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Turtles nesting on Florida beaches will be protected by a settlement in a federal lawsuit, but some landowners say they are unhappy about the agreement.

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Two environmental groups, the National Wildlife Federation and Florida Wildlife Federation, had filed suit, claiming federal emergency managers have allowed insurance for coastal construction without considering the effect of such development on the nesting grounds of five threatened or endangered sea turtles, McClatchy Newspapers reported Friday.

A FWF spokesman said the National Flood Insurance Program amounted to a taxpayer-supported subsidy encouraging construction in dangerous locations on Florida beaches vulnerable to hurricanes.

"What we're trying to do ultimately is reduce exposure of the public to this liability", FWF President Manley Fuller said. "We need to pull back a little further from the beaches."

The settlement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn't explicitly provide turtles any additional protections but does say FEMA, which oversees the flood insurance program, must ask the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries to scrutinize the flood insurance program.

The two agencies would then have 11 months to provide "biological assessment" of any impacts.

The environmental groups said they did not intend to eliminate flood insurance from heavily developed areas such as Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale, but do want FEMA to stop issuing new policies in flood-prone areas.

They said they also want to end policy renewals for coastal development heavily damaged by storms or erosion, a step that could force landowners to rebuild at their own risk.

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