Florida Department of Environmental Protection

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FDEP logo

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is the agency in Florida's government charged with most functions relating to environmental quality in the state.

Contents

[edit] History

By the mid-1960s, when the U.S. federal government was becoming more and more involved in initiatives designed to protect the country's environmental interests, the State of Florida had four agencies with responsibilities involving environmental protection in some relatively direct manner: Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (state lands, including shores, beaches, wetlands, and water bodies), Department of Health (sewage treatment, drinking water quality), Department of Natural Resources (state parks and recreation areas), and Game and Freshwater Fish Commission (hunting and fishing).

Florida had no cohesive environmental agency to oversee the state's environment when the administration of Gov. Claude Kirk created the Florida Department of Air and Water Pollution Control in the late 1960s, with most staff being taken from the Bureau of Sanitary Engineering of the state's Department of Health. The name of the new agency was soon simplified to the Florida Department of Pollution Control.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building in Tallahassee, the largest of the agency's headquarters buildings.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building in Tallahassee, the largest of the agency's headquarters buildings.

The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (FDER) was created in the mid-1970s, from the Department of Pollution Control and portions of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund and the Florida Department of Natural Resources. This revised agency was now not only entrusted with the quality of the state's air and water, but also with making major land-management decisions, primarily related to shorelines and wetlands. As part of that new responsibility, the FDER began supervising the five water management districts that were established in 1972 by Chapter 373,.[1] Florida Statues: Suwannee River Water Management District, St. Johns River Water Management District, Southwest Florida Water Management District, South Florida Water Management District and Northwest Florida Water Management District.

An even more extensive consolidation took place in the mid-1990s when the Department of Environmental Regulation was merged with the substantially larger Department of Natural Resources, creating the current Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

[edit] Functions and Responsibilities

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has a series of complex and inter-relating responsibilities over many aspects of the state's environment. Department funtions are divided into three areas:[2]

[edit] Regulatory Programs

  • Regulate air pollution.
  • Regulate water pollution.
  • Regulate the use of wetlands and shorelines.
  • Control the siting of hazardous waste facilities, power plants, and natural gas pipelines.

[edit] Land & Recreation

  • Manage more than 10,000 acres (40 km²) of state lands, including state parks and recreation areas, greenways and trails, and wildlife management areas.
  • Restore the quality of the Everglades.

[edit] Planning & Management

  • Survey the state's geological resources.
  • Oversee the management of water resources by the water management districts.
  • Control invasive aquatic plants.
  • Monitor the environmental quality of the state.
  • Oversee the reclamation of mined lands.

[edit] Budget and Staffing

The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, during the period 2000-2005, functioned with a staff of approximately 3,600 employees. The Department's annual budget during that period averaged $1,899,731,705.

[edit] Organization

As of 2006, the department was divided into thirteen offices based on function, all operating primarily out of Tallahassee, and six district offices:

  • Administrative Services
  • Air Resource Management
  • Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas
  • General Counsel
  • Greenways and Trails
  • Law Enforcement
  • Office of the Secretary
  • Parks and Recreation
  • Resource Assessment Management
  • Siting
  • State Lands
  • Waste Management
  • Water Resource Management
  • District Offices

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chapter 373, Florida Statutes
  2. ^ Florida Department of Environmental Protection website

[edit] External links