Action Alert | Last Minute Sneak Attack to Gut Environmental Protection

🚨Miami’s quality of life—our clean water, wetlands, and resilience—our future, is on the agenda tonight. 

The Divisionof Environmental Resource Management (DERM) has strong rules that protect Miami-Dade residents from hazardous waste, sewage spills, flooding, overdevelopment, pollution, and more. 

Mayor Levine Cava’s budget would strip permitting authority from DERM—across all sections of the code, from wetlands to forests to discharge pipes—and give it away to the building department. 

Ask the Commissioners to vote NO on item C. 

• On paper: DERM is restored as a Department in October 2025.
• In reality: 
  • DERM loses its most important power—environmental permitting authority.
  • Permitting authority would be the sole responsibility of the building department.
  • This item has only been available for two days before the final budget hearing, slipping in vast changes at the last minute.
  • There is no report, organizational chart, or flow chart to govern this change—in short, the County is not ready for this shift, and it will cause chaos and harm to the environment. 

Why this matters

Without permitting authority, DERM cannot properly protect our local ecosystems and clean water resources. Permits for dredging, filling wetlands, coastal construction, and stormwater discharges would no longer be decided by DERM scientists and engineers. No major County in Florida separates environmental protection from permitting, and Miami-Dade should not be the first.

Although we were told this move would empower DERM, the language we are seeing now at the last minute does just the opposite. 

This will set Miami-Dade back decades in environmental protection. 

Take Action

DERM can and should be improved by investing in modern technology and digitizing permitting, adding staff to reduce delays, and empowering leadership to uphold science-based decisions. However, Item C  does not address any of these concerns and strips DERM of its authorities in the code, handing them over to building officials. 

✔️Urge our Board of County Commissioners to vote NO on budget Item C.

Keep DERM’s authority to protect our environment and public health, and help DERM modernize and become more efficient. 

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