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The state's top wetlands expert has been reinstated after athree-week investigation, but the question of who initiated it andwhy remains unclear. Connie Bersok was put on paid leave from the state Department ofEnvironmental Protection on May 11, two days after she refused toapprove a permit for the Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank in ClayCounty. Bersok told co-workers she had complained to the DEP's inspectorgeneral about her bosses' push to approve the Highlands Ranchpermit, then wound up suspended herself. But the official investigation report released Tuesday makes nomention of Highlands Ranch. It says Bersok's division directorcomplained about her not showing up at work and emailing officialdocuments on her private email account. Both charges were ruledunfounded. Corporate records show the Highlands Ranch project is backed by aprivate equity firm from Washington called the Carlyle Group that'sknown for its global political connections. Highlands Ranch was seeking a permit from the DEP that would grantit hundreds of wetland "credits" that it could sell to developersand government agencies when they pave over wetlands and need tomake up for the damage. Wetland credits in that part of Florida have been sold for $100,000each, and Highlands Ranch wanted 425 of them —most of them,Bersok found, for saving dry land, not for restoring swamps andmarshes. Approving the permit with that many credits would "resultin a net loss of wetland function," she wrote in an internal memoabout the project. So Bersok, a veteran DEP employee, wrote in a May 9 memo that shewould not issue the permit. In an email that day to a co-worker,she said she had complained to the DEP's inspector general abouther bosses bending the rules to say yes to Highlands Ranch, despitethe environmental consequences. "I explained the basic situation, without dropping any names, untilshe asked who was directing me to issue a bad permit," Bersok wroteabout her conversation with the inspector general, Candie Fuller."There was a pause, then she said that she would pursue whatever Isent her." But Bersok found that she was the one on the spot. She wrote in aMay 13 email to co-workers that after she refused to approve theHighlands Ranch permit, she returned to her office and discoveredthe file missing. Then, Bersok wrote, she was told by her boss, Tim Rach, that shewas being transferred from the wetlands office. That was done, shewrote, by order of water resources division director MarkThomasson, who was hired by the DEP a year ago. The reason Rach gave, she wrote, "was that I was not a good matchfor the mitigation/mitigation banking section and the direction thesection was going. I asked if this was in relation to my handlingof the Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank, and Tim would not answer." On May 11, she was sent a memo informing her she was being put onleave pending an investigation. A DEP spokeswoman said that afterBersok was cleared, she was reinstated to her original position inthe agency's wetlands section. The one-page investigation report from the inspector general'soffice makes no mention of Highlands Ranch or any complaint fromBersok. Instead, the report signed by Fuller states that Thomassoncomplained that Bersok had missed a day of work without an excuseand distributed official DEP documents in personal emails. DEP Deputy Secretary Jeff Littlejohn, who has been personallyinvolved in the Highlands Ranch permit discussions, said in aninterview with the Times that Bersok was not suspended over Highlands Ranch. Bersok herselfhas not been allowed by the DEP to discuss her case. Former DEP attorney turned environmental activist Aliki Moncriefblasted the department for the way Bersok was treated. "The report shows that DEP leadership had no basis to suspend Ms.Bersok," said Moncrief, executive director of Environment Florida."Now they need to heed her recommendation against granting morecredits to Highlands Ranch than they can scientifically defend." Highlands Ranch spokeswoman Maria Coppola said the DEP has not yetapproved its permit. Times s taff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. CraigPittman can be reached at craig@tampabay.com. I am an expert from wovenwire-mesh.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Filter Wire Mesh , Sintered Metal Mesh, Filter Wire Mesh,and more.
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