Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, Inc. v. State, Department of Environmental Protection

These two consolidated cases involve timely appeals of final orders from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) dismissing appellants’, Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida’s (ECOSWF) and Manasota-88, Inc.’s (Manasota-88), petitions for formal administrative hearing, challenging in one case the DEP’s renewal of a permit to operate an underground injection well in Charlotte County, and challenging in the other case the decision of the DEP to issue a phosphate mining permit to IMC Phosphates, Inc. (IMC). The DEP dismissed both petitions on the ground that appellants could…