What is the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)?
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was created by the Florida Environmental Reorganization Act of 1993 that effectively merged the Departments of Environmental Regulation (DER) and Natural Resources (DNR). This merger became effective July 1, 1993. Few changes have been made to the regulations. Most of DEP’s responsibility for waste management was transferred from the former DER. Only a few of the current responsibilities assigned to DEP were under the former jurisdiction of DNR. In July of 1999, a few sections of DEP were merged with the Game and Fish Commission to become the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
