Florida law requires that the Department of Environmental Protection and water management districts consider cumulative impacts to surface waters and wetlands within a drainage basin in deciding whether to grant an Environmental Resource Permit.

The 2000 Legislature directed OPPAGA to study the cumulative impact consideration within the Environmental Resource Permitting Program. Our review addressed the justification for the consideration; whether changes would provide greater clarity and certainty in the consideration, and whether a practicable, consistent, and equitable methodology for considering cumulative impacts could be developed. We concluded that

• the cumulative impact consideration is conceptually justified because despite regulatory efforts, surface waters and wetlands continue to be degraded or lost;
• however, weaknesses in design and implementation limit the cumulative impact consideration's effectiveness;
• a consistent, equitable, and practical methodology for considering cumulative impacts at the individual project level is not available; and
• changes to the process would add clarity and certainty in applying the consideration, but would not address fundamental problems.

Given the weaknesses of the cumulative impact consideration in current environmental permitting, we recommend that the Legislature, regulatory agencies, and local governments adopt an integrated planning approach for proactively addressing cumulative impacts to surface waters and wetlands.