The State of Florida argued before a federal appeals court Tuesday that the state’s wastewater permitting authority is too far removed from harms against a local manatee population to be considered responsible, as a wildlife preservation nonprofit alleges.
A panel of judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard oral arguments in the case, Bear Warriors United Inc. v. Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection, after the state appealed a lower court’s adverse 2024 ruling.
Bear Warriors had argued the state’s action, in issuing permits for disposing of sewage, allegedly resulted in manatees dying in the ...