Not in My Orange Grove...EPA Tells Scripps Florida to Find Another Site for $300 Million Biotech Campus

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Inc.; Houston, Texas). A trio of hurricanes, hanging chads, and now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have all added to the state of chaos that Florida seems to keep finding itself in. The EPA has weighed in on the side of local environmentalists in advising the Scripps Research Institute (SRI) to find another site for its east coast research center. It seems like only yesterday that Florida Governor Jeb Bush made the jubilant announcement of success, after the state had lobbied hard to woo the $300 million biotech project. An orange grove in Palm Beach County was named as the most likely site.

For more information see related October 13. 2003 news article - Move Over Mickey, Scripps to Build $400 Million Florida Biotech Research Center In Palm Beach County.

The state has envisioned a vast biotech village radiating out from the centerpiece jewel of the SRI, centered on the 2,000-acre Mecca Farms orange grove. Construction on a temporary home for SRI is already underway at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter. When the project was announced, after months of negotiations, Governor Bush said that Scripps would receive an economic stimulus grant of $310 million to equip and staff its new facility, in addition to being given the actual land. Some estimates place eventual total county and state investment at nearly $1 billion. Scripps, in turn, has agreed to create nearly 600 jobs by 2010. Scripps is the largest private nonprofit research organization in the United States, with roughly a $280 million operating budget and almost 3000 employees at its La Jolla, California, facility.

Almost from the beginning, state environmentalist groups decried the location as environmentally hazardous and threatened lawsuits to block the project. Scripps had set a construction start of January 2005 for the project. That is now being threatened by the EPA, which is seemingly agreeing with the protesters. The agency has recommended seeking alternative sites for the project, citing evidence that property adjoining the Mecca grove location once contained natural wetlands and fed freshwater to a local river.

It is feared that the planned "biotech village" would eventually impact the Loxahatchee Slough, a part of a federally designated wild and scenic river system that has recently been restored, as a part of the $8 billion federal...state Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The village would also incorporate land in Corbett State Wildlife Management area.

The Army Corps South Florida is currently reviewing the permits, and a decision is expected soon. The initial permits cover only development of the first phase of the project, which includes the Scripps research and office buildings on 500 acres at the Mecca site. Permits had to be submitted to the Army Corps, due to their jurisdictional responsibility over the wetlands area. Ultimately, the EPA's opinion does not carry legal weight with the Corps. Undaunted by the resistance and the threat of future lawsuits, county executives remain optimistic about getting permit approval and moving forward with the project.

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