FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— Miami Waterkeeper, the Center for Biological Diversity, Florida Wildlife Federation and the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service on Tuesday for violating the Endangered Species Act when permitting a sand dredging project near Port Everglades.

The groups, represented by Earthjustice, along with co-plaintiff Center for Biological Diversity, filed a motion Wednesday seeking an injunction to halt work until the Corps and the Fisheries Service reassess the Port Everglades Inlet Sand Bypass Project’s harm to critical marine habitat, threatened corals and queen conch. The dredging project, which has sent harmful sediment plumes into nearshore waters, paused in July and is set to resume in the fall.

The Sand Bypass Project is harming federally listed corals, conch and other marine species who are also at risk from the proposed Port Everglades Expansion Project. There is added pressure on the reef ecosystem, and greater risk from this project, after an unprecedented 2023 marine heatwave caused widespread staghorn and elkhorn coral mortality, leaving these threatened species at dire risk of extinction.

“Staghorn coral is on the brink of extinction in Florida, and this project puts some of the last known surviving colonies at risk,” said Danika Desai, senior attorney with Earthjustice. “We are suing to ensure the responsible agencies protect these surviving staghorn — which are critical to the species’ recovery — to the full extent the law requires.”

The groups previously warned the Corps and the Fisheries Service in May that the agencies were violating the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit says that the Fisheries Service’s formal biological opinion on the Sand Bypass Project is arbitrary and unlawful because it underestimates harms to corals and conchs, ignores critical information about the project’s harm, and relies on mitigation strategies that are unlikely to ensure the survival and recovery of the federally protected species.

In April, the Fisheries Service corroborated some of these concerns in a letter to the Corps, recommending the Corps evaluate the need to formally reassess the harm to listed species and their habitat. Despite this, dredging continued without a new environmental analysis.

“The reef around Port Everglades is home to some of the last staghorn coral surviving in Florida. For reasons we still don’t fully understand, they are hanging on right here — and that makes the stakes of this dredging project extraordinarily high,” said Rachel Silverstein, CEO and Waterkeeper at Miami Waterkeeper. “Unfortunately, we are already seeing warning signs that impacts may exceed expectations, and the failure to properly evaluate the gravity of the risks could have dire consequences. We are calling for commonsense safeguards, science-based oversight, and stronger mitigation so that more of these precious reefs are not lost.”

Staghorn corals have been declared functionally extinct across the state. Healthy populations of naturally occurring staghorn corals and breeding queen conch live next to Port Everglades. The fate of these populations will be critical to the recovery of these species in Florida.

“Florida’s iconic queen conchs are struggling to survive after decades of overharvesting and habitat degradation. This lawsuit intends to stop the dredging project before it’s too late for them,” said Alex Muir, a Florida attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Florida’s queen conchs are already too sparsely populated or otherwise impaired to recover the state’s population, meaning every single one of them matters. Yet the Corps is pushing this project knowing it will wipe out hundreds of mother conchs and doom future generations. That’s illegal and we’re going to court to fight it.”

This is the same Port-adjacent reef area that is also at risk from the proposed Port Everglades Expansion dredging project. That major project would put more than 10 million corals at risk, as well as staghorn corals, queen conch, dolphins, turtles and fish.

Satellite imagery and sediment monitoring show that the Sand Bypass project has produced larger-than-predicted plumes of sediment, stretching over thousands of meters from the dredging, and which could be harming the nearby reef, critical habitat, and listed species that call this area home.

The initial phase of dredging began in October 2025 with the construction of a 10.8-acre sand pit off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, just north of the Port Everglades Inlet. The sand pit represents the first component of the project, which will then be dredged routinely every two to four years to produce sand for ongoing beach renourishment nearby.

“It comes down to this: protect the habitat and you protect the species,” said Jess Melkun, vice president of conservation policy at the Florida Wildlife Federation. “Florida's coral reefs are among our state's most important ecosystems, supporting marine wildlife, protecting our coastlines, and sustaining local communities. This case is about ensuring decisions affecting these irreplaceable habitats are grounded in the best available science, before it's too late.”

“The Sand Bypass project threatens more than coral reefs — it threatens the businesses, jobs, and communities that depend on Florida's world-renowned diving resources. DEMA is joining this lawsuit because healthy marine ecosystems are the foundation of a thriving recreational diving industry,” said Nicole Russell, interim president and CEO of DEMA. “We believe Florida can responsibly manage its coastline while protecting the coral reefs and underwater habitats that support both marine life and the state's coastal economy,”

Florida’s Coral Reef stretches along the Atlantic coast from Monroe to Martin Counties. It is the only nearshore coral reef in the continental U.S. and is extremely valuable. It provides protection from storm surge and flooding, habitat for hundreds of species, and opportunities for recreational use and eco-tourism that contribute billions of dollars in sales to South Florida each year. Florida’s reefs are threatened by warming temperatures, ocean acidification, pollution, disease, and dredging sediments. Coral reefs have declined rapidly in recent years, with coral cover decreasing by more than 90% since the 1970s.