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For Immediate Release
Manatee Coalition urges contempt citation for U.S. Interior Secretary, decries Bush administration appeal of court ruling
WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Gale Norton should be cited for contempt of court for repeated and flagrant violations of three separate court orders on a landmark legal settlement intended to protect manatees in Florida, according to court documents to be filed today by Save the Manatee Club, Defenders of Wildlife, The Humane Society of the United States, and a coalition of more than a dozen other groups that signed the original settlement. Federal District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled in July that Secretary Norton must show cause why she should not be held in contempt of court for her department's refusal to comply with the agreement.
In addition to the contempt citation, the plaintiffs have requested that the judge allow them to proceed to a discovery phase, in order to determine whether improper political factors played a role in the federal government's decision to violate the court's orders. In an apparent attempt to further delay compliance with the settlement, attorneys for the Interior Department last week appealed Sullivan's July 31 ruling regarding the designation of manatee refuges and sanctuaries by November 1, 2002.
"Secretary Norton is making an unfortunate habit of thumbing her nose at the federal courts," said Eric Glitzenstein of Meyer & Glitzenstein, lead attorney for the coalition. "Unfortunately, these legal violations are having a devastating impact on manatees and other wildlife. Thanks to this cynical behavior, Florida has now set a new record for manatee deaths from boat collisions in a single year, with three months of heavy boating still to go."
In today's filing before Judge Sullivan, coalition attorneys contend that the federal defendants have done nothing of substance to address the repeated violation of court orders to designate refuge areas for manatees. The results have been devastating for manatees, an endangered species. So far this year, at least 83 manatees have already been killed by boats -- which sets the record for a single year and far outstrips even the record-setting manatee mortalities over the last five years.
The settlement agreement required USFWS to designate manatee refuges and sanctuaries to reduce mortalities due to boat strikes. It was signed in January 2001 by the U.S. Justice Department on behalf of the Interior Department and Corps of Engineers, as well as lawyers for the Florida Home Builders Association, Marine Manufacturers Association, Marine Industry Association of Florida, a coalition of 18 groups that support manatee protection, and by Judge Sullivan himself.
The manatee coalition also pointed to federal permits allowing still more harmful boat projects to proceed in manatee habitat, even while the government is in violation of the current settlement.
Conservationists are also sending a letter today demanding that federal officials withdraw approval for a new boat ramp in Duval County, where boats have killed at least 11 manatees so far this year - the most ever in that county.
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