Florida Seeks to Curb Undersea Cables

Florida is seeking to tighten restrictions on undersea telecommunication cables that environmentalists say damage sensitive coral reefs.

The state Cabinet approved a preliminary request Wednesday from environmental officials to channel future cables away from corals and through five designated gaps in reefs.

The swaying motion of the fiber-optic cables has damaged the coral, which requires hundreds of years to regenerate, according to a study by Washington-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

“Virtually everything the cable touches is harmed in some way,” said Chuck Sultzman, a Vero Beach marine biologist who led the research.

Telecommunication officials argued there is no evidence the cables move along the ocean floor.

The cables are generally owned by a consortium of telecommunication companies, which says it will challenge the proposals, including fees for new lines in environmentally sensitive areas.

“Becoming the only state in the Southeast to charge such fees does not seem the best way to make or keep Florida as the telecommunications gateway to Central and South America,” wrote Paul Shorb, a lawyer for AT&T; Corp.

Nearly a dozen fiber-optic cables thread through the reefs along Florida’s southeast coast, linking telephone and computer lines in the state to Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.

Under the state proposal, new cables would be barred from certain areas teeming with undersea life and herded through reef gaps in others. The industry would have to pay a onetime $15,000 application fee and $5.06 per linear foot to have its cables cross the waters.

The decision from the six elected members of the Cabinet starts the process that will make rules to implement the proposal. The rules will be revised after public hearings.