EPA will step in to regulate 100,000 miles of Florida's waters
Visitors at spring-fed Santa Fe River near Gainesville, FL, for the 2012 Memorial Day weekend found a rude surprise—pollution from sewage, manure and fertilizer sparked an outbreak of nasty green slime. (John Moran)
We’re happy to report that our long fight to clean up the green slime that’s been plaguing Florida waterways for years hit a major turning point on Nov. 30. That’s the day the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to set numeric pollution limits for some 100,000 miles of Florida waterways and 4,000 square miles of estuaries.
We fought every polluting industry in Florida for four years to get this result. These slime outbreaks—caused by pollutants in inadequately treated sewage, manure and fertilizer—are a pestilence, contaminating water, killing fish, destroying property values and chasing off tourists. Now the EPA has to stop dragging its feet and deal with it.
Using extensive data it has been collecting and analyzing in concert with Florida Department of Environmental Protection scientists, the EPA will impose numeric limits on the allowable amount of phosphorus and nitrogen—so called “nutrient” pollution—in the state’s waterways.
The EPA began working to set pollution limits for Florida in 2009—part of a settlement in a 2008 Clean Water Act we filed in the Northern District of Florida on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, St. John’s Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club. The suit challenged the decade-long delay by the state and federal governments in setting limits for the pollution.
EPA’s response here in Florida will set the standard for the nation. What we’ve lacked is a set of quantifiable numbers that are basically a speed limit sign to make the law clear and enforceable. The EPA will now start painting the numbers on that speed limit sign. It will be abundantly clear what the rules are.
The EPA got several court-granted delays in the multi-year case and was seeking another, which U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle failed to grant on Nov. 30. In a last-minute decision, the EPA also conditionally approved a set of state pollution limits developed by the Florida DEP, which will cover a fraction of the waters in the state—about 15 percent. The other 85 percent of the state’s waters will be subject to the numeric federal standards.
We oppose EPA’s conditional approval of the state’s bogus pollution rules because they don’t comply with the requirements of the Clean Water Act. Specifically, the state’s rules fail to provide numeric limits to protect the water quality of downstream lakes for polluted streams; they don’t cover the vast majority of Florida’s flowing waters and Florida estuarine, coastal, and marine waters; and the state’s rules substitute industry-written, multi-year studies for polluted waters instead of the EPA’s more enforceable rules.
Politically, it looks like the state will work on behalf of polluters to try to get the EPA to withdraw its numeric standards, and we’ll be fighting against that. And since it looks likely that Gov. Rick Scott’s administration will continue to collaborate with polluting industries to substitute bogus state rules, our partners are working to mobilize citizens to fight back.
The EPA has set public hearings from 1–5 pm on Jan. 17 and 9 am–12 pm on Jan. 18 at the Hyatt Regency, 211 North Tampa Street, in Tampa.
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David, I hope this effort and the EPA's regulatory reach includes Georgia, as most of the water of North Florida originates in that State. In recent years, the water flowing into the Suwannee River at Ellaville from the Withlacoochee River has carried such a huge polluting content of nutrients that a thick sheet of green algae covering the entire river bottom in both rivers develops during the Summer months, and then breaks apart in the early Fall completely saturating the entire water column with algae. This extreme condition kills fish and eliminates, or adversely affects, almost all recreational uses of the river.
I just can't get a grip on why anybody would think it's alright to pollute rivers, steams and finally the beaches where the waters go into the ocean. We are all very particular about clean cloth and clean cars etc. but when it comes to park, streets, rivers and stream people dump "stuff" and don't think any further about it. Everything is interconnected and everything we do has a consequence. No place on earth should be worse off for us having been there.
Being Vegan is the answer the cost on the world for meat eating is catistrofic and the compassion you get when you love all living things is so wonderful.
Being Vegan is the answer the cost on the world for meat eating is catistrofic and the compassion you get when you love all living things is so wonderful.
Good work, Earthjustice. Keep it up!
As a native Floridian, it's distressing, depressing and heartbreaking to have witnessed the decline in Florida's environmental quality over the last 50 years. I hope the interjection of the EPA into this issue will be one of the all too rare bright spots in what has been, over the last 30 years or more, a dismal history.
Pollution is only half the problem with Florida's waterways. Overpumping and overdevelopment has also resulted in severely diminished flow rates for the springs that feed our most spectacular rivers and provide the drinking water for millions. Our corrupt governor has recently defunded the only program that was addressing (albeit, in a lame fashion) this problem. Some of our springs have seen their flow rates halved over the last decade alone, and without water flow, the issue of runoff and nutrient pollution is rendered moot.
Some political demographers claim that Florida is once again becoming a "Blue" state. Our support of Obama in the last 2 presidential elections, and the growing Latin population, give me some reason for optimism about that particular point. Whether it will be relevant in the long term is another issue. Our habit of sitting out "off-year" elections, and electing Republican legislators and governors, is what is truly stymieing any efforts to protect the environment. We, in Florida, have what is probably the most bought and paid-for legislature in the country. Developers and agriculture interests have always had their way with Florida, since its settlement. But it has been even more apparent than over the last 30 years. The effects of polluting industries and their agendas is never more devastating and wanton than when our state is under the control of Republicans.
This fight to defend Florida's environment will never end. As long as we insist on believing the myth that regulations are best imposed at the local level, it never will end until there is nothing left to defend. The history of Florida is that its politicians, especially the new breed of Teabagger influenced Republicans, will reliably and obediently bend over for any swinging dick with briefcase full of cash and a promise of political support. As long as this new breed of Republicans retain control of Florida's state offices, the long and inexorable slide into environmental degradation, and the attitude that current pollution levels are to be considered the "new normal", will continue unabated.
I like Alcee's idea in her above comment, "Request for bragging T-shirts or Hats to raise awareness/conscious . . ."
Nick
Request for bragging T-shirts or Hats to raise awareness/conscious of EART SAVE
I believe there may still be people out there that are not aware of what this organization
is about; or even it's existence, plus I like to make fashion statements. Is anyone with me?
Does anyone have any idea how to get that done, Earth JUSTICE T-shirts, and or Caps?
Thanks for you attention
Alcee
It's been a while since I've been there, and perhaps there are other options nowadays, but cafepress (dot com I think) is a site where you can have their stock t-shirts, caps, mugs and other promotional type stuff printed with whatever logo or statement you want to make.
It's actually set up to give you a little website
"storefront" where the stuff is produced for you "on demand", whenever an order is taken. So there's no inventory to maintain and no minimum order quantities.
I'm pretty sure it's free and you only pay for the items you sell (to yourself or others). So, maybe EJ will give you rights to print their logo. You can start your own little business, fulfill your fashion desires, promote EJ and maybe contribute some proceeds as well.
Dear Pete and Alcee,
Earthjustice has hats and t-shirts located here: http://earthjustice.org/products
Hope that helps!
We will not likely see much improvement in our lifetimes, but this is a sign of at least some limited progress.
-Joel
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