August 19, 2001
The Department of Agriculture announced on Saturday that it's backing down from plans to resume cutting citrus trees for at least the next few months, a day after a state appellate court again delayed the canker eradication program.
"The department today chose the most responsible way to proceed," said Andrew Meyers, chief appellate counsel for Broward County. "By focusing on the rapid detection and removal of infected trees, the department can go a long way toward getting the spread of citrus canker under control."
Administrative Law Judge John G. Van Laningham invalidated the program three weeks ago, agreeing with opponents who said the department had failed to go through the proper rule-making process before implementing its policy of cutting down all trees within 1,900 feet of infected trees.
The department responded by drawing up a new rule intended to meet Van Laningham's objections. The department also drafted an emergency rule that would have given itself the authority to begin cutting again while its new rule goes through an approval process that could take months.
Cutting was scheduled to resume on Monday, with 619 trees in Boca Raton targeted for eradication. Miami-Dade and Broward would have seen 200,000 trees cut down starting later in the week.
The department has been fighting against a coalition of Broward County, Miami-Dade County and several local governments that have been trying to save the trees.
Both sides were planning to head back to Van Laningham's courtroom on Monday, but the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee ordered the cutting delayed until Aug. 27, continuing a moratorium that has been in effect since November.
The moratorium applies only to healthy trees near infected ones. The state still has the right to cut infected trees.
Now the department won't act under the emergency rule but will instead wait until the end of the rule-making and approval process, which could take three months, said spokeswoman Liz Compton. The decision makes Monday's scheduled hearing unnecessary.
"This is great," said Jack Haire, one of the leaders of the campaign to save the region's trees. "They were wrong. Their emergency rule was nothing more than a legal trick."
During the coming rule-making process, the department will hold a public workshop, and the opponents in the local governments will file a formal legal challenge, leading to an administrative trial in Tallahassee.
Opponents now have more time to prepare their case and mount an orderly attack on the scientific validity and constitutionality of the program, Meyers said.
Cutting might resume sooner than three months if the state wins an appeal of Van Laningham's original decision.
The repeated delays may have had a damaging effect, Compton warned, noting that citrus canker is primarily spread by wind and rain.
"We figure we're going to see the results of Tropical Storm Barry in October," she said. "We're going to see more infected trees."
Tree owner Lisa Durling, who lives near Pompano Beach, said she supports efforts to save healthy citrus trees, but not at the expense of one of the state's most important industries.
"I'm not happy about it," she said, "but I don't want to see an entire industry get hurt."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
For more of the latest info on the citrus canker virus situation, check out:
http://doacs.state.fl.us/canker/index.htm