Survey of conference registrants and Florida voters reveal alignments and gaps on big issues
By KAREN CYPHERS
When more than 1,000 environmental professionals gather in Marco Island this July for the Environmental Permitting Summer School, they will bring decades of field experience with them. Roughly six in 10 of this year’s registrants have spent more than 20 years in the environmental, energy or growth-management field.
Sachs Media invited all EPSS registrants to participate in a survey on various environmental and water issues facing Florida. Paired with a companion survey of Florida voters, the results offer a rare look at how this seasoned community sees the issues, and where its judgment parts ways with the public’s view.
Washington, the permitting queue and home-field marks
First, on the inside-baseball questions, a clear pattern emerges – experts agree on the federal pressures ahead, and they want practical fixes:
- Asked which federal actions now under discussion in Washington will most affect Florida, registrants pointed first to Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting (58%) and federal wetlands jurisdiction, or “Waters of the U.S.” (57%), followed by PFAS drinking water standards (41%) and Endangered Species Act changes (36%). The wetlands questions clearly dominate the field’s attention.
- On the perennial question of permitting speed, from most to least, registrants said timeframes would improve most through more agency staffing (54%), pre-application meetings and early review (46%), tiered review based on project complexity or risk (39%), better digital permitting systems (37%), and greater use of general permits (36%). Artificial intelligence and machine learning finished last at 6% – a striking verdict from a group that ranks AI among the topics it most wants the conference to cover.
Registrants gave Florida’s own programs solid marks:
- About half (51%) rated the state’s stormwater permitting above average or a national leader, and greater shares of the most experienced attendees offered that praise.
- A strong majority of those familiar with the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (84%) rate the program as at least somewhat effective.
- On living shorelines, a majority (62%) favored a streamlined or general permit to encourage nature-based shoreline protection, with another 56% supporting incentives or technical assistance.
An optimism and confidence divide
The companion survey of Florida voters yields interesting results. EPSS registrants are markedly more positive about Florida’s water and environmental status and institutions compared with the general public:
- Three in four registrants (76%) believe Florida pays more attention to its environment than other states do, a view shared by only 38% of voters.
- 72% of registrants believe the Florida Forever program is effective at protecting land and natural resources, compared with just 38% of the public.
- Half of registrants (50%) are generally optimistic about where Florida’s environment will stand a decade from now, double the rate of Florida voters at large (25%).
That confidence gap runs through nearly every institution tested. Environmental professionals express far more confidence than voters in the private sector and industry (61% versus 26%), water management districts (76% versus 49%), and the scientific community (85% versus 65%). Voters, by contrast, place more trust in environmental NGOs (52% versus 43%) and the courts (39% versus 27%) than the EPSS crowd does.
Diverging perceptions of threats
Florida’s environmental professionals and the public also express different perceptions of the biggest threats to Florida’s environment over the next decade. Growth and development pressure tops the list for both registrants (56%) and the public at large (48%), but the groups diverge from there. Registrants cite water supply and availability (41%), and loss of wildlife habitat and biodiversity (31%) as the next two biggest threats, while Florida voters cite concerns with hurricanes and storm resilience (39%) and sea-level rise (35%).
Even where the two groups align on a threat, registrants tend to read it as less severe: 53% see data centers as affecting Florida’s water resources, against 64% of the public.
The upcoming election also divides registrants and the public. A majority of registrants (62%) expect November’s ballot amendment to reduce property taxes to harm Florida’s environment if it passes, compared with 42% of voters.
Earned optimism at EPSS
If there is reassurance for the Florida public in these numbers, it is this: the people who know the state’s water and environmental regulation best are also its most confident in its future. That optimism comes from the same professionals who gather at Marco Island this July, as they have for 40 years, to trade ideas, find solutions, learn from one another and connect. They then return to their agencies, firms, agencies and districts to deliver the results that make such optimism warranted.
Karen Cyphers is Director of Research at Sachs Media in Tallahassee. The Florida Specifier and Sachs Media launched a partnership in 2026 to bring surveys and data to readers
