2025-03-27T10:52:12-07:00 2023-12-31 371552393 Steven J Henriquez CPA LLC 5825 Sunset Drive 201 Miami FL 33143 990 2023-01-01 593082799 EVERGLADES LAW CENTER INC EVER 7864963309 6815 Biscayne Blvd Ste 103-449 Miami FL 33138 Elizabeth Fata Carpenter Executive Director 7864963309 2024-10-30 1 1 Steven Henriquez P00889296 3054236399 2024-09-18 2023 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z X X Elizabeth Fata Carpenter 6815 Biscayne Bld Ste 103-449 Miami FL 33138 464083 0 X X 1991 FL TO ADVOCATE, NEGOTIATE, AND LITIGATE TO PROTECT AND RESTORE THE SOUTH FLORIDA ECOSYSTEM. 7 7 5 7 0 0 262633 463637 22995 446 0 0 0 0 285628 464083 0 0 0 0 244072 293426 0 0 0 30904 49682 274976 343108 10652 120975 105026 225874 2888 2761 102138 223113 X TO ADVOCATE, NEGOTIATE, AND LITIGATE TO PROTECT AND RESTORE THE SOUTH FLORIDA ECOSYSTEM. 0 0 290803 0 0 PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES TO PROTECT NATURAL RESOURCES THAT DIRECTLY AFFECT COMMUNITIES AND TO REPRESENT ADVOCACY GROUPS BEFORE GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES AND TO PROTECT NATURAL RESOURCES, WITH A FOCUS ON AMERICA'S EVERGLADES. REPRESENT THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND LAND USE MATTERS, WORKING WITH NATIONAL, STATE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND CONSERVATION GROUPS INCLUDING LAND USE, WETLANDS PERMITTING, ENDANGERED SPECIES, PUBLIC LANDS, AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT, WITH A FOCUS ON AMERICA'S EVERGLADES. 0 0 0 290803 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 FL X Everglades Law Center Inc 7864963309 6815 Biscayne Blvd Ste 103-449 Miami FL 33138 Elizabeth Fata Carpenter Executive Director 40 0 X 88750 0 0 Lisa Interlandi Former Executive Director 40 0 X 60000 0 0 Michael Pucillo President 5 0 X 0 0 0 Jason Domark Treasurer 2 0 X 0 0 0 Karen Marcus Secretary 2 0 X 0 0 0 Susanne Durst Director 2 0 X 0 0 0 Robert Hartsell Director 2 0 X 0 0 0 Bill Atterbury Director 2 0 X 0 0 0 Zack Lipschultz Director 2 0 X 0 0 0 148750 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 463637 0 463637 Legal services 541100 446 446 0 0 0 0 0 0 446 0 0 0 0 0 0 464083 446 0 0 60000 48000 12000 205281 190364 14917 5569 5569 1041 971 70 21535 19350 2185 13339 13339 915 915 2644 2644 15684 15684 6703 6083 620 4320 4320 2945 2945 Meals 325 0 325 0 Dues & subscriptions 2807 2807 0 0 343108 290803 52305 0 105026 225874 5421 5421 0 105026 225874 2888 2761 2888 2761 X 102138 223113 0 0 102138 223113 105026 225874 120975 0 0 0 0 0 X 0 0 0 X 296990 341535 213453 262633 463637 1578248 296990 341535 213453 262633 463637 1578248 258365 1319883 1000 0 0 22995 446 24441 1602689 0.82354 0.8142 X Schedule A, Part II, Line 10 Client and litigation services. RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5421 5421 0 0 0 0 0 0 Form 990, Header, Line B Amended made to include a description of cases litigated and how they benefit the public generally. Form 990, Part III, Line 1 In 2023, Everglades Law Center, Inc. ("ELC") was involved in five cases in litigation, two representing non-profit organization clients as amicus curiae, one representing a non-profit organization in federal court, and two representing the same citizen in both state administrative court and state court. The two cases involving amicus curiae briefs are not "cases litigated" by ELC but we include below the rationales for the determination that ELC's involvement on behalf of amici curiae would benefit the public generally. 1. ELC filed an amicus curiae brief in April 2022 in Florida's Third District Court of Appeal on behalf of Friends of the Everglades, Inc., 1000 Friends of Florida Inc., and Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper d/b/a/ Miami Waterkeeper, in support of Tropical Audubon Society, Inc.'s position that Florida's administration commission erred in finding that a proposed Miami-Dade County comprehensive plan amendment was "in compliance" under Chapter 163, Florida Statutes. ELCs brief highlighted the conflict between the administration commission's interpretation of Florida's community planning and administrative procedure acts and Florida legislative and constitutional intent to ensure the protection and restoration of the Everglades ecosystem and natural resources through the community planning act and local comprehensive planning. Ensuring that inappropriate development impacting state resources, including the Everglades, can be challenged and prevented is central to achieving ELC's mission: to advocate, negotiate, and when necessary, litigate to protect and restore the south Florida ecosystem, which benefits the public generally. The appellate court ruled against the party that ELC's brief supported in 2024; ELC represented our clients pro bono and did not seek attorney fees. 2. ELC filed an amicus curiae brief in November 2023 in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Inc., Sanibel-Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce, Inc., Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association, Inc., Islamorada Chamber of Commerce, Inc., Captains for Clean Water, Inc., The Everglades Foundation, Inc., Florida Bay Forever, Inc., Islamorada, Village of Islands, Florida, the City of Lake Worth Beach, Florida, the City of Sanibel, Florida, and the City of Stuart, Florida supporting the position of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in an appeal by three sugar industry appellants of a lower court decision rejecting their challenge of the Corps' approval of a Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan ("CERP") project. ELCs brief sought to ensure that CERP projects can be implemented to accomplish Everglades restoration. Were the court to adopt the sugar industry's flawed interpretation of the law, the carefully crafted plan for Everglades restoration developed over decades would cease to be a plan to restore America's Everglades, and would serve instead primarily as an insurance policy for agricultural water supply before any restoration objectives could be met. Ensuring that the federal plan to restore America's Everglades can be effectively implemented is consistent with ELC's mission: to advocate, negotiate, and when necessary, litigate to protect and restore the south Florida ecosystem, which benefits the public generally. In March 2023, the district court ruled in favor of the position that ELC and its clients supported; the sugar industry appealed, and the appellate court issued an opinion supporting our position in March 2025. ELC represents our clients pro bono and is not seeking any attorney fees. 3. In September 2023, ELC filed a complaint together with co-counsel on behalf of Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper, Inc. d/b/a Miami Waterkeeper, against K.L Brito corporation. The case was a civil suit brought under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387, commonly known as the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), to address and abate the defendant's ongoing and continuous violations of the act pursuant to the CWA's citizen suit enforcement provisions at CWA section 505, 33 U.S.C. § 1365. The case centered on an industrial property in Opa-locka that was not in compliance with required stormwater discharge permits. Industrial stormwater can carry harmful pollutants into local waterways, posing risks to both the environment and public health. Ensuring compliance with water quality regulations by industrial polluters in Miami-Dade County is critical for protecting Biscayne Bay and the communities that depend on it and is consistent with ELC's mission: to advocate, negotiate, and when necessary, litigate to protect and restore the south Florida ecosystem, which benefits the public generally. ELC represented our client pro bono and sought attorney fees pursuant to the CWA. In November 2024, the parties entered into a settlement, providing for payment of costs and significantly reduced attorneys fees by the Defendant (in addition to an environmental benefits payment to a local community group). The settlement was approved by appropriate federal agencies in January 2025. 4. ELC filed a petition in the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings ("DOAH") in December 2022 on behalf of Nita Lewis, Ph.D., a citizen who lives and owns her home directly across the street from a proposed development site that overlaps with property proposed for use in Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan ("CERP") projects. ELC's DOAH petition challenged the Miami-Dade County commission's approval of an amendment to its comprehensive plan to allow the development project to proceed in the potential CERP project footprint, a comprehensive plan amendment that, according to Miami-Dade County's mayor, "encourages development in areas at risk of storm surge, putting more properties at risk in the future" which would add to the adverse impacts that "poorly-planned historic development has had on our ecosystem." Challenging inappropriate development impacting state resources, including the Everglades, that violates state and local land planning laws protecting those resources is central to achieving ELC's mission: to advocate, negotiate, and when necessary, litigate to protect and restore the south Florida ecosystem, which benefits the public generally. ELC represents our client pro bono, and is not seeking attorney fees. The case was stayed throughout 2023 and 2024 while procedural issues raised by the state of Florida were litigated in state court (see case below). 5. ELC intervened in June 2023 in a state court challenge brought by Miami-Dade County and developers on behalf of Nita Lewis, Ph.D., a citizen who lives and owns her home directly across the street from a proposed development site that overlaps with property proposed for use in comprehensive Everglades restoration plan ("CERP") projects. The litigation challenged a determination by a state agency that the county's approval of a development project was procedurally incorrect and thus invalid. ELC supported the position of the state agency, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, that the project's approval was procedurally defective and thus null and void. ELC did not seek attorney's fees. The trial court ruled in favor of the Department of Economic Opportunity in March 2024, and Miami-Dade County and the developers appealed to the First District Court of Appeal in Florida, which upheld the trial court's determination in February 2025. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b A COPY OF THE FORM 990 IS DISTRIBUTED TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE BOARD WHO REVIEW FORM 990 AND ALL ACCOMPANYING SCHEDULES PRIOR TO FILING WITH THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE CENTER. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AND KEY EMPLOYEES ARE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE ALL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AT ANNUAL MEETINGS AND BEFORE LITIGATION FOR POTENTIAL CLIENTS. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS COMPARES COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR OFFICERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS, AND KEY EMPLOYEES WITH BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF SIMILARLY ESTABLISHED NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 THE ORGANIZATION MAKES ITS THREE MOST CURRENT YEARS OF FORM 990 AND ITS FORM 1023 AVAILABLE UPON WRITTEN REQUEST. NO OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC.