The Terminal

Loggerhead sea turtles still climb ashore to nest on Florida's panhandle less than an hour from Panama City, along one of the Sunshine State's last stretches of condo-free coastline. Just inland, in a vast cypress swamp, scientists have reported more than a dozen sightings of ivory bill woodpeckers, thought until just two years ago to be extinct. The area's network of longleaf pine forests, cypress swamps, and white sand beaches, part of NRDC's Emerald Coast BioGem, is a rarity in a state often associated with unbridled development. On September 15, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved plans for a $300 million airport in the heart of the region that would replace Panama City's airport just 30 miles away. Building the new airport would destroy 2,000 acres of wetlands, and surrounding development would eliminate another 7,000 acres. The wetlands in question protect water quality, provide a buffer against Gulf Coast hurricanes, and sustain threatened and endangered species. After the FAA's decision was announced, NRDC filed suit to block the plan on the grounds that there are less environmentally damaging alternatives to the proposal, including improving and expanding the existing Panama City airport.