By Matt DePaolis, SCCF Environmental Policy Director

Last month, the immigration detention center hastily established at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, christened ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, was closed after almost a year of use. Since opening, the facility had been plagued by criticism over its potential environmental impacts. After the rest of the facility had been deconstructed, the sign was removed from the front gate, signifying an end to this chapter in the airport’s history. 

The complete disregard for any environmental analysis was of notable concern and was the focus of a lawsuit brought by the Friends of the Everglades. 

The facility was rushed into operation without any environmental impacts being analyzed, acknowledged, or mitigated.  While the facility was built under emergency powers, given the unique federal nature of the work being carried out and the promise of federal funding, opponents argued that federal environmental requirements must be met. 

With the facility’s closure, many of the issues are now moot, but the precedent set by the action remains an important question that must be answered. Using emergency powers to ignore requisite environmental analysis is not a new idea, but this action was among the largest and most blatant, and a thorough post-mortem is needed to ensure that similar environmental risks are not allowed in the future. 

While the facility is closed, questions remain about the airport’s future. This was not the first environmental battle revolving around the training airport. The airport was originally planned as the ‘Everglades Jetport’ in 1968.  At the time, it would have been the largest airport in the world in the heart of the Everglades. Due to the site’s sensitive environmental nature and its importance to the Miccosukee tribe, the project was eventually canceled, and the land became part of the Big Cypress National Preserve.

Everglades advocates are now calling for further protections for the land, ensuring it remains a conservation area and is not the future site of any intensive uses that would degrade the water, air, dark skies, or other nearby unspoiled natural habitats.