A new court filing in the fight over Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades claims state and federal officials kept key information from judges about Washington’s role in the detention center.
The allegation is at the center of an updated lawsuit filed last week by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The groups say an appeals court initially allowed the detention center to keep operating after proceeding on the understanding that Florida had not applied for federal funding, even though records obtained later show the state already had.
That matters because federal funding was an important part of the legal fight over whether the detention center was subject to the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA requires federal agencies to assess environmental effects before taking major federal actions.
The closed for now but not fully dismantled detention center was built on Miami-Dade County-owned land at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, surrounded by conservation lands in the Everglades. It underwent no federal environmental review before construction began.
The environmental groups say construction and operation of the center harmed the sensitive ecosystem surrounding it. They point to at least 20 acres of new pavement, high-intensity lighting and miles of fencing, and say the development threatens protected species including Florida panthers.
Florida applied for federal reimbursement while the environmental lawsuit was underway. Federal officials later approved Florida for $608 million in reimbursement for costs associated with building and operating the detention program.
The groups now want a judge to prevent Alligator Alcatraz from reopening, or the site from being changed further, until its environmental effects are fully studied.
Environmentalists view NEPA as a key safeguard against environmental damage from major federal projects. Government supporters of projects frequently criticize the law and its review process as overly time-consuming and an impediment to projects they consider important to the public.
The groups suing over Alligator Alcatraz argue that federal involvement went beyond money. They say federal agencies helped approve the detention center, played a major role in how it operated and ultimately agreed to reimburse Florida hundreds of millions of dollars.
They argue that level of federal involvement should have required environmental review before the project moved forward.
“Unfortunately, because they raced forward without those reviews, so much damage has been done over the last year,” said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and senior attorney at Center for Biological Diversity. “And while we're relieved that the facility is no longer there, there's evidence that this project isn't over. There's still demobilization activities happening on the ground, as far as we can tell. There's also a risk that this project could come back.”
In plain English, the amended lawsuit says the appeals court made an important decision about the federal government’s role in Alligator Alcatraz without being given information that could have affected that decision.
“The court is supposed to have before it all of the information to make a fair determination about how the law applies here,” Bennett said. “But unfortunately, this is a really sad trend that we're seeing with the federal government right now, that we can't trust the representations of the federal government or the attorneys who are representing them in court.”
The detention center was built to house people apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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