Two environmental action groups based in Volusia County allege the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ignores its guidelines in issuing thousands of permits to destroy Florida wetlands. A January news article revealed the Army Corps approved 99.9 percent of the wetlands filling permit applications in Florida, within the last decade. The Floridians for Environmental Accountability & Reform and Wetlands Alert suit states since 1989 the Army Corps has approved more than 27,000 such permits with minimal oversight. Palm Beach attorney Lesley Blackner said the Army Corps has become a tool for developers, it has been co-opted by the very entity it was intended to regulate.

Wetlands are valued for storing and filtering stormwater, providing feeding, nesting and spawning grounds for fish, shellfish and wildlife. The Army Corps oversees federal wetlands permits under the Clean Water Act, which says non-water related activities such as homes and commercial development are presumed to be inappropriate to be placed in wetlands. However the Army Corps allows developers to dredge and fill wetlands with nationwide permits with little to no consideration of environmental impacts. Nationwide permits accounts for two-thirds of the projects approved in Florida by Army Corps since 1989, with no effort made to analyze the cumulative effects of all the permits. Corps official have said nationwide permits don’t undergo greater scrutiny because they present little threat to the environment. The plaintiffs ask the court the declare the Army Corps’ actions a violation of national environmental policy.

Gordon Williamson a member of Floridians for Environmental Accountability & Reform said " the filling of wetlands is not only destroying wildlife, but it’s changing our climate. What we want to do is to try to make them follow their own rules." A site near New Smyrna Beach serves as an example of the lack of Army Corps ability to oversee the thousands of dredge and filling projects proposed every year. An environmental consulting firm in the employ of the developer said there were 0.15 acres of wetlands on a 29-acre site a developer wished to fill. Based on their assessment Army Corps approved the filling project. The St. Johns River Water Management District later identified 10 acres of wetlands, representing about one-third of the site.