Did City Of St. Augustine and Lawyer William Pence Brag Too Soon?

I learned a new word last week thanks to the City of St. Augustine. It is "de micromis," which is a smaller size than "de minimis," which is what the City's environmental crime defense lawyer, William Pence (photo below) had called our City's illegal dumping.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)) rejected our City's "de minimis" excuse." Now our City asserts the Old City Reservoir is actually a mining operation and that the City intends to resume mining operations (although it also claims it seeks to fill in the Old City Reservoir). Under each, our City asserts it need not comply strictly with environmental laws, as FDEP orders.

"De micromis" may also describes the thought that went into our City's illegal dumping, in the wake of indictments in Clay County for similar actions by unaccountable public officials.


Mr. Pence and City officials evidently bragged too soon last year about their fine accomplishments at the Sebastian Inner Harbor project. See http://proceedings.swix.ws/2005_10_09_Brownfields/content/pdf/Pence.pdf