A lawsuit has been filed against the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) over public records related to a detention facility in the Everglades, known as "Alligator Alcatraz."
The group Friends of the Everglades says the absence of those public records violates the Government in the Sunshine Act, "which requires agencies to make official records available to the public."
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Friends of the Everglades says a lawyer for the organization has been asking for public records since June 24, just days before the facility officially opened.
The suit states that FDEM "has failed to (i) timely respond to these requests; (ii) produce all documents responsive to the requests when it did respond; and, most recently, (iii) ignored requests to produce the two Defendants’ grant application to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) for funding for the detention center, and the grant award documents."
The suit also seeks public records related to grant requests for federal funding to reimburse the state. In late August, WPTV reported that emails between high-ranking officials at the Florida Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suggested the federal government was never expecting to pay Florida back for the entirety of the detention center.
The state was approved for $608 million in reimbursement by FEMA in early October.
"The Florida Division of Emergency Management wrongfully withheld the grant application documents and the grant award," said attorney Paul Schwiep. "These documents are public records. Friends of the Everglades, the courts, and the public are entitled to them under Florida’s constitution, which enshrines the public’s right to public records.”
Friends of the Everglades also filed a lawsuit in June seeking to halt construction of the project until a study on the environmental impacts could be done.
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