Wayne E. Flowers [Photo: Joshua Prezant]

» Environmental lawyer Wayne E. Flowers with the Jacksonville office of Lewis, Longman & Walker scored a coup for client St. Joe Co. when he defended the validity of a new regional wetlands permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that covers 48,000 acres in the Panhandle. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida upheld the permit late last year after challenges by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club.

 

» Representing a consortium of conservation groups before the DCA on another key environmental question, J. Kendrick Tucker of Huey, Guilday, Tucker, Schwartz & Williams in Tallahassee successfully defended the validity of the Department of Environmental Protection’s water resource rules. Florida’s home builders had challenged DEP rules that set up procedures for reserving water supplies to protect fish and wildlife — which will become crucial if Florida faces water conflicts in a new drought. The First District Court of Appeal recently affirmed an administrative law judge’s order upholding the rules.