Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida (ECOSWF)

In 2015, ECOSWF was one of three environmental organizations represented by law firm Earthjustice in a suit demanding the state legislature abide by the “Water and Land Conservation Amendment in the state Constitution” to ensure “thirty-three percent of the proceeds from real estate documentary-stamp taxes go for land acquisition.” ² In addition, in April 2019 ECOSWF was one of 75 organizations to sign onto a letter to the state House of Representatives to vote no on Transportation Corridor bills that would construct toll roads in rural areas of the state. Other signers included the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, and the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women. ^{3 4}

Background

The Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida (ECOSWF) was created as a network of several state-level organizations that advocate to “encourage and promote the dissemination of educational and scientific information pertinent to the preservation, protection and enhancement of…natural resources.”  ^{1  5}

The ECOSWF operates within several state counties including Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Collier, Highlands, Lee, Charlotte, Hardee, and Hendry counties. Its membership as of 2026 included nine organizations: Coastal Wildlife Club, the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County, the Mangrove Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, the Miakka Community Club, the Neighborhood Land Conservancy, and the Greater Charlotte Harbor Group of Sierra Club Florida. ¹

Between 2019 and 2026, the ECOSWF has litigated with, or signed coalition letters alongside, several local and national environmental organizations including Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, the National Wildlife Federation, the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women, ManaSota-88, Florida Defenders of the Environment, and the Florida Wildlife Federation. ^{4 3 6 1}

Activities

Amendment 1 Litigation

In June 2015, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida (ECOSWF) was one of three environmentalist groups, the other two being the Florida Wildlife Federation and the St. Johns Riverkeeper, to have a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on their behalf in Leon County Circuit Court. The suit was against the Florida State legislature and accused them of allegedly diverting roughly $300 million of an estimated $745 million in revenue guaranteed by the 2014 Water and Land Conservation Amendment towards state agency operating costs rather than land acquisition. Then-House Speaker Steve Crisafulli (R-Rockledge) claimed that the Florida state Legislature had complied with the state constitution’s amendment while accusing the lawsuit of being politically motivated. Press accounts of the consolidated litigation also listed the Sierra Club among the plaintiffs. The suit later did not proceed through the appeals process, and the state Supreme Court later declined to review it. ^{7 2 8 9 10 7}

Permitting and Standing Litigation

ECOSWF has previously petitioned for administrative hearings to block industrial permits within the state of Florida. In October 2004, ECOSWF and ManaSota-88 jointly filed a lawsuit challenging the Florida state Department of Environmental Protection’s renewal of an underground injection well permit in Charlotte County and its issuance of a phosphate mining permit to IMC Phosphates. The lawsuit petitions were dismissed for lack of standing under a law barring citizens from initiating permit proceedings, and the First District Court of Appeal rejected the groups’ argument that the amendment violated the Florida Constitution’s single-subject requirement. ⁶

Regulatory Advocacy

ECOSWF has held seats on the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Environmental Advisory Committee and the Myakka River Management Coordinating Council. In a self-published summary of its 2025 activities, the group reported testifying against a narrowed federal definition of “waters of the United States,” signing an Earthjustice letter opposing relaxed sewage sludge rules, urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny Atlantic offshore drilling permits, and opposing delegation of Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands permitting authority to Florida. In October 2024, it wrote to the EPA opposing the use of phosphogypsum as road base. The group has claimed credit, with Earthjustice and Save Our Creeks, for litigation that reopened public access to Fisheating Creek in 2024. ^{11 12 13 14}

Leadership

Becky Ayech is president of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida (ECOSWF) as of 2026. Ayech is also president of the Miakka Community Club, an ECOSWF member organization. ^{9 12 15 16}