 BOATERS CHALLENGE SLOW ZONE Miami Herald -- Tuesday, September 25, 2001 By: Associated Press VIERA -- Boaters who believe slow-speed waterway zones do not save Florida's endangered manatees hope a hearing starting Monday will get rid of the rules in Brevard County, and perhaps the rest of the state. Administrative Law Judge F. L. Buckine was set to hear two legal challenges to the Brevard waterways regulations approved May 23 by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Those rules include slow-speed zones. One challenge to the speed-zone regulations was filed by four boaters and a second was filed by Standing Watch, a statewide boaters group with 8,000 members. "I just hope this judge will be open-minded and not some tree-hugger," said Tom McGill, one of the four who filed the first challenge to the speed zones. Backing the wildlife commission and the existing Brevard waterways regulations at the hearing were the Save the Manatee Club and the Florida Wildlife Federation. Also taking part in the proceeding were attorneys for Florida Power & Light. They're responsible for protecting official permission for their client to use barges to haul fuel through the Merritt Island Barge Canal from Port Canaveral to its plant on the Indian River near Port St. John. The barges, boaters argue, kill manatees. "We've done a lot of research, and that's not the situation at all," said Winifred Perkins, FPL's manager of environmental relations. "All I can say is that the commission has adopted a valid rule that we intend to vigorously defend," said Ross Burnaman, an attorney for the wildlife panel. No ruling was expected until at least next month. The judge can uphold Brevard's regulations and dismiss the petitions, or determine that all Ð or some -- of the rules are invalid. McGill, a charter boat captain from Merritt Island, acknowledged that whatever Buckine's ruling, the judge's decision could affect manatee protection measures across Florida. That's because the county has long been at the center of legal tussles between environmentalists and boaters on manatee protection. "As goes Brevard, so goes the rest of the state," McGill said. Copyright (c) 2001, The Miami Herald |