Environmental Dunces

Soon-to-be-displaced County Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro is no friend of the environment. The former state representative led the charge to allow developers to build beyond the county's imaginary line that stops construction from encroaching on the Everglades and environmentally sensitive lands. He is pushing for a rewrite of Miami-Dade's manatee protection regulations, considered the best in the state. Recently, Barreiro sided with a builder who wants to erect a two-story office building with 170 parking spaces in a residential neighborhood where houses sit on one, two-acre lots. Well it  looks like the good commish takes his cue from mom and dad. This past November 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited Bruno Sr. and his wife Alicia for dumping dredge material into a canal connecting to the Atlantic Ocean behind the couple's Key Largo property where they are building a house. The EPA fined the Barreiros $5,000, via Eye on Miami.

-- Francisco Alvarado