A whistleblower who worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been fired after he leaked information about plans to build hotels in nine state parks, according to a new report from the Tampa Bay Times. News of the secret plan first became public on August 20 when the Tampa Bay Times published details thanks to information provided by the whistleblower.
The whistleblower, James Gaddis, worked as a cartographer for the state of Florida for two years and says he was asked on July 29 to start work on proposals to destroy state parks and develop them for other uses. As the Tampa Bay Times reports, Gaddis found two elements of the plan the most disturbing: a golf course for Jonathan Dickinson State Park and a 350-room hotel for Anastasia State Park. The parks are beloved by locals and tourists for their natural beauty.
Gaddis said that kind of development could only be accomplished by bulldozing a lot of critical habitat, which he called “totally confusing and very frustrating.” The secrecy around the entire project was also odd, leading Gaddis to go to the media without official permission from the state.
“It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks,” Gaddis told the Tampa Bay Times in an interview. Gaddis didn’t immediately respond to questions emailed Tuesday morning about his firing.
Gaddis made about $49,300 per year as a state employee, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and would like to hire a...
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