A proposed “breakwater” aimed at preventing beach erosion on Singer Island, already controversial locally because of disputes about who should pay for the work, faces a new wrinkle: According to the St. Petersburg Times, local political powerhouses Jeff Atwater and Ron Klein are pushing state and federal agencies to approve the project — despite the potential harm to nesting sea turtles.

The Times reports:

… Two prominent Florida politicians — state Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton — have been prodding state and federal officials to approve a $30-million taxpayer-funded project to build 11 rock walls about 200 feet off Singer Island’s beach.

The walls, known as a breakwater, will not stop the erosion, only slow it down, according to Palm Beach County officials sponsoring the project. But biologists fear the breakwater would stop something else: nesting by endangered sea turtles.

… However, political considerations may outweigh the environmental impact, according to internal e-mails from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission obtained by the St. Petersburg Times.

In one March e-mail, a state biologist warned a colleague that “there is extreme pressure being put on to get this permit approved ASAP despite considerable concern” over turtle nesting.

… Atwater, now running for state chief financial officer, and Klein did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.