What Is an Environmental Resource Permit and Who Applies Most
Nearly every construction or land development project in Florida that touches wetlands, surface waters, or stormwater systems needs an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP). New data from Sachs Media shows just how much permitting activity a handful of applicants have driven over the past two decades, and the results say a lot about who is shaping Florida’s built and natural landscape.
What Is an Environmental Resource Permit
An ERP is issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) or the relevant water management district and covers activities that affect wetlands, surface waters, and stormwater management. Utilities, developers, and mitigation banks alike need an ERP before altering a site in ways that could affect these resources. For a mitigation bank specifically, the ERP is what authorizes the bank itself and later governs how credits are released as the bank meets its success criteria.
Top 10 ERP Applicants to Florida DEP, 2007-2026
Sachs Media’s original data analysis, produced with Decyphered, ranks the top 10 applicants for Environmental Resource Permits to Florida DEP over the past two decades:
- Florida Power & Light — 2,529 applications
- St. Joe Company — 640 applications
- LPI Wetland Mitigation Bank — 463 applications
- Duke Energy Florida — 344 applications
- Westervelt Ecological Services — 321 applications
- Tampa Electric — 309 applications
- Mosaic Fertilizer — 296 applications
- MCI / Verizon — 274 applications
- CEMEX — 239 applications
- Black & Veatch — 218 applications
Florida Power & Light’s application count dwarfs every other entry on the list, reflecting the scale of infrastructure work required to maintain and expand utility service across the state. St. Joe Company and LPI Wetland Mitigation Bank round out the top three, representing large-scale land development and mitigation banking respectively.
Why This Matters for Mitigation Banking
The volume of ERP activity from utilities, developers, and industrial operators is a direct driver of mitigation credit demand. Every wetland or surface water impact tied to one of these applications potentially requires compensatory mitigation, whether through an on-site solution or credits purchased from a bank. LPI Wetland Mitigation Bank’s presence in the top three shows that mitigation banks themselves are significant, repeat filers, reflecting the ongoing permitting and credit-release process banks go through over their operational lifespan.
Have questions about how an ERP or mitigation credit requirement applies to your project? Contact The Mitigation Banking Group for guidance.
Source: Sachs Media original data analysis, produced with Decyphered. Data source: Florida DEP Geodata.
