In the culmination of a more than 15-years-long battle, a Florida water quality agency sued a Tampa Bay-area gun club last year for failing to prevent spent ammunition from ending up in nearby wetlands.
But after the National Rifle Association’s top-flight lobbyists brought in a powerful GOP lawmaker involved in setting the agency’s budget, the regulatory body abruptly dropped the suit on Feb. 19, according to a report published Sunday by The Trace, a non-profit media organization that focuses on guns.
The dispute dates back to 2000, when a groundwater well excavation turned up “unacceptable” lead levels in the wetlands near the Skyway Trap & Skeet Club from old lead ammunition leaching into Sawgrass Lake.
Following a water test, the agency sued the trap & skeet club. Under then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), the water management district brokered a deal to clean up the park, which carried a cost of $25 million in taxpayer funds. The deal also mandated the club build a barrier to stop ammunition from ending up in the wetlands. The clean-up effort ended in 2014, but the barrier was never built, which led the agency to sue for its construction in August 2015.
Public documents obtained by the Trace show state Rep. Ben Albritton’s office sending terms for dismissing the lawsuit to the Southwest Florida Water Management District – crafted as if the terms were already agreed upon.
One document, sent to Colleen Thayer, the agency’s head of public affairs, included the notes: “Rep. Albritton wanted me to forward this to you. He said he wants thoughts sooner rather than later.”
According to the documents, Thayer forwarded the email to the agency’s executive director and chief of staff with the note: “I have no words … But now high blood pressure.” She wrote, “don’t wet yourself” in a note to the chief of staff for the water management agency, which is also known as Swiftmud.
While the source for the dismissal terms isn’t spelled out in the emails, the Trace found the first name of its author – Marion – in the metadata. The name is a reference to Marion Hammer, one of the most powerful gun lobbyists in Florida, who was instrumental in pushing through the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law.
Hammer first got involved in the case a few years after Swiftmud first sued over after the water test, calling the legal action “backdoor gun control” and condemning the agency’s leaders as “drunk with power.”
In the week before the text of the dismissal arrived at Swiftmud, text messages obtained by The Trace show correspondence between Hammer and Albritton, which Hammer said was created “at NRA’s direction by the attorney representing us.”
Hammer told the publication she also sent the terms to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) office, but she did not know whether the governor was in communication with Swiftmud about the matter.
In a Feb. 18 text message conversation, Albritton texted Hammer that the agency had the agreement in hand and he would give them a couple days “to digest it.” Hammer replied to ask if Albritton or state Rep. James Grant, another Florida Republican, made any changes to the agreement.
“No Mam,” Albritton said. “Sent it as is. Feel it is the appropriate starting point.”
