If you live in Florida long enough, you learn that two kinds of people move here.
One comes to Florida, appreciating what the state has to offer. The other moves in and immediately starts trying to change things.
Which brings us to Michael Colosi.
His lawyers describe him as a “young, self-made tech entrepreneur” who recently moved to Southwest Florida and is apparently not happy.
Colosi’s beef is with Charlotte County officials who told him that, if he wants to build a house in a way that might disturb the habitat of the endangered Florida scrub-jay, he’ll have to compensate for the potential damage by paying fees to protect land elsewhere.
So he’s now suing — not just over the fees, but to altogether end federal protections for the scrub-jay, the only bird uniquely native to Florida.
That’s quite a way to make an entrance.
The story of tech guy vs. bird was laid out in a recent piece in the Florida Phoenix by veteran Sunshine State environmental writer Craig Pittman.
In the piece, wildlife advocates told Pittman that, if the lawsuit is successful, it could have serious ramifications. A lawyer for Earthjustice described the potential fallout as “dangerous not just to the Florida scrub-jay, but to a lot of endangered species.”
Colosi’s lawsuit contains two key legal arguments:
One is that he believes the fees the county tried to charge him for habitat destruction on the five-acre lot in Punta Gorda were “arbitrary” and exorbitant at $118,000.
Now, big fees aren’t unusual in cases of potential environmental destruction. Some developers obviously don’t like paying. But some environmentalists also view them as a cop-out — a way for wealthy people to get their way when land should be protected without exception. Still, Colosi might end up being able to make a case that the amount is too much or at least debatable. It’s hard to precisely quantify such things.
But his goal of stripping the scrub-jay of any special status as a federally endangered species could have a much bigger impact and relies on arguments that seem more specious.
His lawyers argue that the scrub-jay shouldn’t qualify for federal protection because the bird doesn’t impact “interstate commerce” and isn’t entitled to “federal” protection, seeing as how it exists in only one state. Ours.
The last part involves some convoluted logic. So we protect creatures whose population gets reduced down to two or three states, but not creatures that only exist in one?
Still, Colosi has some heavy-duty legal firepower championing his case in the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative, property-rights group based in California that has had success before. The group helped lead the charge to end federal protections for the bald eagle a couple decades ago. When that happened, though, the bald eagle was soaring in way more than just one state.
The foundation isn’t holding back. The lawsuit targets Charlotte County, two federal agencies and multiple agency leaders. One of Colosi’s lawyers also penned an op-ed that calls on the President of the United States to get involved.
Yes, the president of the United States … in response to a case about a newcomer to Florida who doesn’t want to pay full-freight fees on a new house here.
Among the lawsuit’s many claims: “The Florida scrub-jay has no commercial or economic value.”
Wildlife defenders told the Phoenix that’s just false, saying people routinely trek to Florida to see that bird in the only state where it lives.
Economics aside, the scrub-jay is just a pretty endearing bird. It’s smart, curious and so friendly that it’ll sometimes eat from your hand or land on your head. The Florida House of Representatives even cast a near-unanimous vote just a few weeks ago to recognize the scrub-jay as an official state bird. (The bill didn’t cross the finish line, though, as the Legislature was in general disarray, unable to even pass a budget.)
Still, most Floridians seem to like the scrub-jay — except for some homebuilders and developers.
The developers’ most famous ally was the NRA’s long-time lobbyist, Marion Hammer, who repeatedly urged state leaders not to award the bird any special recognition. Hammer even trashed the little bird’s friendly nature, saying that its willingness to eat out of strangers’ hands proved it had a “lazy … welfare mentality.”
Nonsense aside, the unique bird is largely treasured. And most Floridians, even those who aren’t card-carrying members of the Audubon Society, generally seem to agree that we probably shouldn’t cavalierly destroy their few remaining habitats. Or that, if someone wants to do so, they should at least pay to protect the bird or its habitats elsewhere. The Phoenix noted that Charlotte County has had its protections in place for more than a decade.
But now a newcomer wants to build a house — and has the help of a legal group with an agenda. So pity the poor Florida scrub-jay, who was here long before any of the rest of us.