If you live in Florida long enough, you learn that two kinds of people move here.<\/p>\n
One comes to Florida, appreciating what the state has to offer. The other moves in and immediately starts trying to change things.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to Michael Colosi.<\/p>\n
His lawyers describe him as a \u201cyoung, self-made tech entrepreneur\u201d who recently moved<\/a> to Southwest Florida and is apparently not happy.<\/p>\n Colosi\u2019s 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\u2019ll have to compensate for the potential damage by paying fees to protect land elsewhere.<\/p>\n So he\u2019s now suing \u2014 not just over the fees, but to altogether end federal protections for the scrub-jay, the only bird uniquely native to Florida.<\/p>\n That\u2019s quite a way to make an entrance.<\/p>\n The story of tech guy vs. bird was laid out in a recent piece<\/a> in the Florida Phoenix by veteran Sunshine State environmental writer Craig Pittman.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cdangerous not just to the Florida scrub-jay, but to a lot of endangered species.\u201d<\/p>\n Colosi\u2019s lawsuit<\/a> contains two key legal arguments:<\/p>\n 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 \u201carbitrary\u201d and exorbitant at $118,000.<\/p>\n Now, big fees aren\u2019t unusual in cases of potential environmental destruction. Some developers obviously don\u2019t like paying. But some environmentalists also view them as a cop-out \u2014 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\u2019s hard to precisely quantify such things.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n His lawyers argue that the scrub-jay shouldn\u2019t qualify for federal protection because the bird doesn\u2019t impact \u201cinterstate commerce\u201d and isn\u2019t entitled to \u201cfederal\u201d protection, seeing as how it exists in only one state. Ours.<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n 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> a couple decades ago. When that happened, though, the bald eagle was soaring in way more than just one state.<\/p>\n The foundation isn\u2019t holding back. The lawsuit targets Charlotte County, two federal agencies and multiple agency leaders. One of Colosi\u2019s lawyers also penned an op-ed<\/a> that calls on the President of the United States to get involved.<\/p>\n Yes, the president of the United States \u2026 in response to a case about a newcomer to Florida who doesn\u2019t want to pay full-freight fees on a new house here.<\/p>\n Among the lawsuit\u2019s many claims: \u201cThe Florida scrub-jay has no commercial or economic value.\u201d<\/p>\n Wildlife defenders told the Phoenix that\u2019s just false, saying people routinely trek to Florida to see that bird in the only state where it lives.<\/p>\n Economics aside, the scrub-jay is just a pretty endearing bird. It\u2019s smart, curious and so friendly that it\u2019ll 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\u2019t cross the finish line, though, as the Legislature was in general disarray, unable to even pass a budget.)<\/p>\n Still, most Floridians seem to like the scrub-jay \u2014 except for some homebuilders and developers.<\/p>\n The developers\u2019 most famous ally was the NRA\u2019s long-time lobbyist, Marion Hammer, who repeatedly urged state leaders<\/a> not to award the bird any special recognition. Hammer even trashed the little bird\u2019s friendly nature, saying that its willingness to eat out of strangers\u2019 hands proved it had a \u201clazy \u2026 welfare mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n