Miami Waterkeeper Statement on the Disempowerment of Environmental Regulators in a Last-Minute Budget Maneuver

DERM Just Lost Its Bite

Miami-Dade County stripped the Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) of its core authority to issue and deny permits affecting our environment

At the last budget hearing, County Commissioners approved the Mayor’s ordinance that quietly—and fundamentally—weakens Miami-Dade’s environmental regulators. In a last-minute maneuver, the Commission stripped the Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) of its core authority to issue and deny permits affecting our water, wetlands, and natural resources—and handed it to the building department (RER).

The ordinance was advanced at alarming speed, without a plan, flow chart, organization chart, or analysis of the impacts of this decision on the County. Even now, basic questions about how the system will function remain unanswered.

For decades, DERM has served as a critical counterweight to powerful pressure, grounding decisions in science and ensuring our environment—and quality of life— are protected. As the code was written, the DERM director was intended to be one of the most powerful officials in the County. And for decades it was. Not even the Mayor could override DERM’s Director on environmental permitting decisions. That independence was burdensome at times, but it was also essential. With this new ordinance, all references to the “DERM Director” are gone from the permitting authority, and instead have been changed to “RER Director.” DERM now has NO decision-making authority on development permits in Chapter 24, the environmental code. This tilts the balance of power away from environmental protection.

Residents deserve transparency, accountability, and a fair opportunity to weigh in on decisions that shape our environment and quality of life. The initial plan that was in the Mayor’s June memo, ostensibly, intended to make an independent DERM department, reversing a decade-old move that had relegated it to a Division under the Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER). But the language ultimately introduced and passed at the 11th hour in the budget hearing went much further—and ended up removing regulatory permitting authority from DERM.  This plan was never fully disclosed to the public before the budget hearings. 

Despite claims that the ordinance “empowers” DERM, clearly, the opposite is true. 

However, as Elaine de Valle observed in Political Cortadito: what’s left of DERM’s bite might get filed down to baby teeth. Our message to the Commission and the Mayor is—it’s not too late. Reconsider this change.  Examine the consequences. Find a way to solve for permitting inefficiency without removing DERM’s regulatory authority altogether.  

Miami’s water and wetlands are the heart of our community and our economy—accounting for $64 billion in economic output, $24 billion in income, 448,000 jobs, and $4 billion in tax revenue for Miami-Dade County. Our future depends on institutions empowered to protect them, not stripped of the tools they need to do so.

Fact Check: Responding to claims about this ordinance

Claim: “What this does is strengthen DERM as an environmental organization and gives them their exact duties.” Roy Coley, Chief Utilities and Regulatory Services Officer

False. While DERM is becoming its own department, it’s been “defanged.” The ordinance strips DERM of all Chapter 24 development permitting authority, transferring final decision-making from the DERM director and giving it to the RER (building department) Director. DERM’s duties are also not clear.

Claim: This isn’t a big change—DERM was already part of RER.

Misleading. While DERM sat under RER for years, the Director of DERM still had the final word on environmental permits—even the Mayor couldn’t overturn those decisions. That DERM authority is now gone. DERM likely will not even know about permit applications that affect the environment they’re charged with protecting.

Claim: “[...] this is not a last-minute change – the item passed as part of the budget process codifies our existing practice that was announced in June.” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava via email to residents 10/1

Misleading. The June 30th memorandum announced the creation of a DERM department, but it explicitly did not disclose that DERM would lose permitting authority. In fact, the opposite is true. The memo states that the new DERM department would have a continued role in permitting, clarifying that the new DERM Department “will double down on efforts to streamline the permitting experience.”

Claim: “The same people who’ve been doing the permitting with the environmental reviews are still doing those reviews.” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava (WPLG)

Misleading. While some of the same staff may review applications, ultimate authority to approve or deny them now rests solely with the RER Director—not with DERM’s senior scientists or DERM Director.  Enforcement capability of those permits—and other former DERM responsibilities—is not clearly defined.

Claim: The code is still the code—nothing changes.

Misleading. While specific code requirements have not changed, the ultimate authority responsible for implementing the code has changed. Additionally, oversight and enforcement responsibility for DERM (e.g., zoning concurrence memos) are now gone or are unclear. The code is never just “the code.” There are always interpretations possible, which is why these decisions are sometimes challenged or litigated. DERM’s only authority now remaining in these permitting decisions is to defend RER’s decisions if they are appealed, which DERM may have had no hand in reviewing or approving.