Endangered Species Act Case Study

The Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. §1531 et seq., requires that the Corps ensure that manatees and manatee habitat will not be negatively affected by the proposed project. The application received from NASA Environmental Assurance Branch fails to state protective measures they will implement to evade adverse impacts to manatees. The conditions to follow, found within the previously referenced document by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1979, will offset any major direct or indirect injury or mortality of manatees within the project area. SMC would like to point out the most important conditions with regards to the project type.

This fill project has potential to cause excess turbidity within the habitat for manatees. Turbidity will decrease