Clean Water Network Florida

Clean Water Network of Florida, Inc.

The Clean Water Network of Florida is a Coalition of more than 155 groups that are committed to full implementation, enforcement and strengthening of the Clean Water Act and other safeguards of our water resources.

It includes a variety of organizations representing environmentalists, family farmers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, surfers, boaters, faith communities, neighborhood associations, environmental justice advocates, and civic associations.

ERC Protected Polluters: 12/14/11

By  Linda Young

Dear Friends of Florida’s waters:

I apologize for not getting this out on Friday.  I intended to do that, but I was behind on many office duties that have been neglected for the past month and important deadlines consumed my day.  I know that you wanted to hear about the ERC hearing on Thursday.  Many of you may have read the media coverage which was appreciated, but scant on important (to me) details. So here are some of my impressions.

First of all, for anyone who didn’t see a newspaper article, our amendment did not pass.  This was not a huge surprise.  As I told you in previous emails, of the six commissioners there were only four that we even had a slight chance of convincing.  As it turned out, only three were truly receptive.  We were given plenty of time to present our amendment and explain its merits.  I appreciated that.  In addition to myself, two local Tallahassee medical doctors also presented testimony.  Dr. Ron Saff, who is an allergy and asthma specialist, spoke to the health effects on sensitive populations to breathing airborne toxins from toxic algal blooms as well as the health care cost associated with recent red tides in Florida. Dr. Raymond Bellamy, a surgeon in Tallahassee and a former  two-term ERC commissioner himself also spoke on behalf of our amendment and addressed health concerns that could result from the industry slanted rule.  They were both very impressive and greatly appreciated.  

Three of the commissioners were very interested in the details about the implementation of the rule.  I had provided them with information about our concerns and documentation prior to the meeting. I also had phone and in-person meetings with four of the commissioners.  So, those four were well informed on why our amendment was important.  They asked quite a few good questions of DEP even before I gave my presentation.  Their questions were in regards to allegations that I had made about the inadequacies of the nutrient rule.  

Unfortunately, DEP gave answers that were:  untrue, twisted, misleading, completely theoretical and/or confusing.  It is always so frustrating to listen to DEP staff discuss their water program policies.  They put a very convincing and effective spin on their malfeasance, so that someone who isn’t constantly following DEP’s work would never be able to perceive the duplicity and deceitfulness that is skillfully woven through their rhetoric.  I tried to tactfully point this out to the commissioners with two examples and I think they were smart enough to know that they were getting a slick, industry-driven spin job from the agency.  They asked some pointed questions of DEP, which the staff could not deny as they knew that the commissioners had my documentation right in front of them.

Ultimately, there were three potential votes for us – at best.  I think they would have voted for us, but that was not enough to win and the other three made it clear they were in industry’s camp.  I would like to think that our three commissioners did the math and decided to not go out on a limb that would clearly not support them.  I understand their reluctance to draw fire for a cause that was not going to succeed on Thursday.  They also knew that we can take this issue to federal court, which we absolutely will as soon as EPA approves Florida’s rule.  So, we have not reached the end of this journey yet.  It would be great to have leadership in our state government that is not completely sold out to the polluters, but we won’t have that until Florida voters quit electing them.  I hope that day arrives soon!!!

If you sent emails or comments to DEP or the ERC members or your state representatives and did not copy me on these letters yet, please forward me a copy.  I am printing out all of the ones that you sent me and they will go in a packet to EPA.  That packet will become part of the record that will then be submitted to the court when we ultimately sue over this issue.  Thank you so much for everyone’s help.  I received many of your comments that you sent to DEP and the ERC members and they were excellent. Several of the ERC members told me they were getting deluged with comments.  So, they know you care and they know that they adopted a rule that will allow Florida’s waters to get even more polluted.  I’m so glad that I don’t have to get up every  morning and know that I voted for the further destruction of Florida’s waters.  

The next step is for the Florida legislature to vote on the rule.  I’m going to look into the timing for that and potentially ask you to help me alert them to our opposition to this rule.  I won’t ask you to do anything more on this until after the holidays, so everyone enjoy the season.  As you reflect on 2011, and look toward the new year ahead, think of the efforts that you made to help protect Florida’s waters for their value to this amazing planet upon which we live.  Every effort you made is joined by that of thousands of other people.  We may not win every step of the way, but we will ultimately succeed.  As I said in my last email to you, just the fact that there are so many people in Florida working on this TOGETHER, makes us successful.  We are scattered from the Keys to Pensacola, but we are focused and working TOGETHER on one of the most important issues in this state.  I wish I could bring us all together in one place so that all of you could know each other.  It is such a gift and a blessing to me to have the opportunity to work on protecting Florida’s waters with you.  

Finally, I send my sincere appreciation to all of you who have sent your financial support for our work this year.  Your contributions make a significant difference in how much we can do.  Thank you so much for your generosity and for sharing your hard-earned money with CWN-FL.  If some of you would still like to send a tax-deductible contribution to CWN-FL it will go to the continuation of this effort and our commitment to protecting Florida’s waters. You can send your donations to:  PO Box 5124, Navarre, FL  32566.  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO THE ENTIRE CLEAN WATER NETWORK OF FLORIDA FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

For all of Florida’s waters,

Linda

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Florida: A River of Fiscal Insanity Runs Through It: 12/07/11

By  Linda Young

FLORIDA:  A River of Fiscal Insanity Flows Through It

by Linda Young

 

In your wildest dreams, you could barely imagine the corporate welfare that is flowing to some of Florida’s biggest air and water polluters.  From 2009 and up to the present day, the federal government gives paper mills billions of dollars to do something that they have been doing for decades: burning “black liquor” in their boilers.  Black liquor is a byproduct of their process.  By adding petroleum to their “liquor” fuel, they qualified for a federal tax credit that was intended to encourage the burning of biomass for industrial fuel.  Here is the list of Florida corporations that are exploiting the tax code and the amount of your hard-earned dollars that they scarfed up in 2009:

 

International Paper (Pensacola): $2.06 billion in black liquor credits; $2.36 billion net income

Smurfit-Stone Container (Panama City): $654 million; $8 million net income

Rayonier (Fernandina Beach): $205 million; $313 million net income

Buckeye Technologies (Perry): $130 million; $154 million net income

Georgia-Pacific/Koch (Palatka):  $1 billion (at least); net income unknown

 

This federal corporate welfare for paper mills continues until at least 2015 . And the State of Florida is doing its part to make the situation even worse. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is seeking approval on December 8th, of a water quality rule that would give these same big polluters an unprecedented “free-pass” to use Florida’s rivers as giant dilution/mixing zones These giant corporations (along with the mining and chemical industry) discharge massive amounts of nutrients into our waters that in turn, cause fish kills, red-tides and other harmful algal blooms.  They smother sea grasses and destroy our fisheries.  The cost for health care when humans are exposed is only beginning to unfold. And the FDEP wants to configure the rules to make even higher levels of pollution legal. The ERC faces a clear choice:  pander to politically powerful polluters, or protect our waters and the many businesses that depend on clean water for their livelihood. Right now, unless we stop them it looks like they are going to choose pollution over protection.

 

A huge chunk of Florida’s work-force is job-dependent on clean water: restaurants, hotels, charter boat operators, real estate, fishing related businesses, recreational companies, etc.  The list goes on.  If we continue to allow the reckless dumping of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds into our waters, the steady degradation that we have all witnessed over the past few decades will continue.  We all recognize the need for more jobs in Florida and everywhere, but without clean water, Florida’s economic future looks grim. No one wants to spend their vacation on a beach, suffocating from toxic air that is blowing in from near-shore waters.  No one wants to spend $50 on a seafood platter that may have contaminated fish on it.  No one will eat our wonderful oysters if they may contain poison from algae-infested waters. 

 

We can’t afford to keep subsidizing big polluters who are not doing their part to protect and preserve the resources that are the economic lifeblood of our state.  Don’t think that the federal government will come to our rescue – they are on board with the big polluters, too.  Yet they expect us to keep sending our tax dollars to Washington and Tallahassee so they can squander them on the very companies that are destroying the natural beauty of Florida which is our most important capital resource .  This river of fiscal insanity is flowing backwards and you can turn it around by speaking out now.  You can find the contact information for the ERC members at:

 

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/legal/ERC/memb

 

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Socialized Pollution: 11/16/11

By  Linda Young

How would you like your government to tell all of the major polluters in your community (sewage plants, paper mills, phosphate facilities, chemical plants, etc.) that they can dump their pollution in your local waters forever and never have to account for what comes out of their pipes?  It sounds kind of crazy, huh? What if the free-for-all was limited to just the most troubling chemicals for Florida waters?  Would that help?  What if the state and federal government agreed that this is a good idea and that the cost of dealing with the most polluting chemicals would be spread out for everyone to pay, so our biggest polluters would not be troubled with the problem?  Well, the owners of those big discharges into our streams and bays would certainly like that, but what about the rest of us?  Are we ready for socialized pollution? Is more corporate welfare one of your top priorities in these tough economic times?

 

This is not a theoretical scenario.  This is what is happening in Florida right now.  The federal government has already made it so.  The state has an opportunity to fix this very bad idea and take steps to protect us and our waters from even more pollution in the form of nitrogen and phosphorus (nutrients), which are already choking our waters with toxic algae.  You won’t need to go far in Florida to find a spring, lake, river, and bay that is suffering from too much nitrogen and/or phosphorus.  The result is fish kills, respiratory problems, and slimy, stinky waters.  Even so, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is determined to protect politically powerful polluters in Florida and make the rest of us pay for their pollution.

 

On December 8th, the Florida DEP will ask the Environmental Regulation Commission to approve new rules that not only reinforce the new federal law for Florida, but take state waters even closer to destruction.  While the new state and federal pollution rules have numeric limits for the first time, the numbers actually mean very little.  No pollution pipes in the state will be required to meet these numeric limits.  Agriculture is exempt as well  Each water body will be sampled throughout the year in various locations.  All the samples will be combined to find an annual geometric mean for each water body (lake, spring, river, etc.).  If the geometric mean is too high for a whole year, then . . . no problem.  If it’s too high for a 2nd year then the federal rule offers numerous ways to change or ignore the limits or simply delay doing anything at all.  The state and federal rules are clear that at no time will discharge pipes be required to meet the new pollution limits. 

 

In simple language, our rivers and estuaries will become automatic “mixing zones” (places in the water where pollution laws aren’t applied) for every polluting industry and sewage plant.  If our waters ever get cleaned up, it will be up to local governments and individual taxpayers to make it happen.  This is socialism at its worst and the exact reason that so many Americans are marching in the streets across our country right now.  If the state of Florida wants to protect its waters from excess nutrients, then it must make sure that every industrial and sewage pipe meets Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) standards for nutrients, at a minimum. 

 

Now is the time to speak out for the waters that you love and rely on for drinking, fishing, swimming, etc.  Contact your elected officials and let them know how you feel about socialized pollution.  You can also follow this link for more details and a quick and easy way to take action: http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/actionalerts.php

 

 

 

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STOP PRIVATIZING PROFITS AND SOCIALIZING POLLUTION: 10/14/11

By  Linda Young

Dear Friends of Florida waters:

As promised last week, here is the first of several action alerts that you will receive over the next six weeks.  They will be more frequent and more urgent than what we normally send to you, but this is an urgent matter.  Please do all that you can to fully engage in our campaign to get protection from nutrients in Florida’s waters.  

This week we are directing your attention to the FL DEP.  They need to know that thousands of Floridians want the toxic algal blooms, fish kills and sick waters to end.  After two years of following the federal and state developments for numeric nutrient criteria (NNC), we believe that the most simple and most helpful change that could be made to these rules would be to require that the EPA/DEP nutrient criteria for nitrogen and phosphorus should be apply at the discharge point for every non-MS4 NPDES permit.  In simple language, that means that it would not apply at the end of municipal stormwater pipes.  It would however be applied at the end of pipes from big polluting industrial facilities (paper mills, phosphate facilities, power plants, sewage plants, etc.).

Here is the message to send to Eric Shaw at DEP and his email address:

Dear Mr. Shaw:

In your draft at 62-302.530 it reads,  “ . . . Numeric interpretations of the narrative nutrient criterion in paragraph 62-302.530 (47)(b), F.A.C. shall be expressed as spatial averages and applied over a spatial area consistent with their derivation. . .”  

We suggest that this additional language be added to the paragraph above:
 
“. . . except where non-MS4 point source discharges with NPDES permits enter a water body.  These NPDES permitted discharges will be required to meet advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) standards for nutrients (3 mg/l for nitrogen and 1 mg/l for phosphorus) or the numeric limits for approved nutrient TMDLs for that water body, whichever is lower and more protective of the water quality at the end of the discharge pipe or where the discharge enters waters of the state. In cases where an NPDES permit contains nutrient limits that are more protective than AWT standards, then the more protective limits shall apply.”
 
If this additional requirement is not added then you are granting an automatic nutrient mixing zone to every NPDES permit which discharges into waters of the state, and will thereby encompass the entire span of the water body (as delineated by the Department on a case by case basis).  This violates Florida’s mixing zone rule Chapter 62-4.244, F.A.C. and the Clean Water Act.

Send your message to:  Eric.Shaw@dep.state.fl.us

The next CWN-FL comment letter on DEP’s draft Numeric Nutrient Criteria (NNC) rule is almost ready to be sent to each of you for you to either sign on or write your own.  That will be the next thing you receive from us.  The comments are due by Oct. 18th (next Tuesday) but if you can’t sign on by then, we’ll send our letter with the sign-ons that we have and then send the same comments with additional signatures a week later.  The important thing is that the signatures are seen by DEP, the members of the Environmental Regulation Commission, EPA, and others.

Every week you will receive a new action alert and a request for your help.  Please take these alerts seriously and do everything possible to take action, even if it is delayed.  The ERC will take up this matter on December 1st.  DEP will brief them on the draft rule on November 3rd.  If you can attend one or both of these meetings it will be very helpful.

Here’s the bottom line, again:

Neither the federal or state NNC rule are going to lead to less nutrients in our waters.  The proposed state rule is much worse than the federal rule, but because of the numerous loopholes in the federal NNC rule, it will be essentially impossible to require reductions in nutrient discharges.  Remember that the rule does not apply at all to agricultural pollution or to stormwater discharges.  The numbers that have been adopted for Florida by EPA are based on an annual geometric mean of all the samples collected throughout the year and throughout the entire span of the waterbody.  In addition, there are numerous other loopholes in the rule (SSACs, variances, downgrading designated uses, 20-year compliance periods, etc) that are available to the state and polluters to avoid cleaning up their nutrient pollution.  So, while the state rule has even more loopholes and caveats in it, the federal rule is not substantively any better.  

If Florida would at least require NPDES/point sources to comply at the end of their pipes with advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) standards (3 mg/l for nitrogen and 1 mg/l for phosphorus) then we would start to see some improvement, with the state or federal nutrient criteria.

There are many, many more problems with the federal and state NNC rules, which I have outlined for you over and over again, so I won’t repeat them now.  Look back at previous Weekly Updates to find them or email me and I’ll send you the list of problems with EPA’s NNC rule.

Please watch for the sign-on letter. I may finish it this weekend but you will have it by Monday at the latest.  Thank you in advance for your help and please call or email me with any questions, comments or suggestions.

For all of Florida’s waters,
Linda Young
Director

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Weekly update 6/14/11: 06/19/11

By  Linda Young

Dear Friends of Florida’s waters:

In this update, you will find the following:

1. Update on DEP workshop on numeric nutrient rulemaking and and weakening the standard for dissolved oxygen;
2. EPA approval of Florida’s new boatable/splashable water classification;
3. Georgia-Pacific’s permit for a pollution pipe to the St Johns is imminent;
4. Buckeye’s pollution permit to the Gulf is imminent;
5. Thank You!!!
   

1.  I attended the DEP workshop on the state’s rulemaking for numeric nutrient criteria on Tuesday in Tallahassee and got few surprises.  Basically the state will adopt the EPA nutrient rule (which is almost identical to the State’s draft rule from two years ago, so why not?) verbatim, except for a few differences:
    A.  The are adding another layer of analyses for biology in addition to the chemical component of the rule.  This will matter when a water is assessed for impairment or not.  If the biology passes DEP’s muster, but the numeric doesn’t, then they won’t consider it a problem.  Here’s how DEP describes their approach:

        “The Department recognizes the role of site-specific factors that affect numeric responses and proposes to base new standards on establishing a systematic numeric interpretation of the existing narrative criteria”

    B.  DEP contends that algae is not a bad thing and can even be a good thing, so they don’t want it to be a trigger for impairment unless they decide that its causing a “real” problem.  If it’s not causing a “real” problem then no nutrient reductions should be pursued;
    C.  So basically, the narrative criteria would still apply everywhere and DEP would interpret what that means on a site-specific basis as they see a need for it and based on whether or not they have the data to interpret the narrative for a numeric criteria.  

I know that is confusing, and it get a whole lot more confusing than that.  But here is the more troubling component of this situation, which I have discussed with you previously:

    This is step one in a long process of taking Florida’s water quality standards apart.  The next step, which was also discussed in the day-long workshop involved the dissolved oxygen criteria.  In order for DEP to allow our waters to “legally” be full of excess nutrients, algae, invasive plants, etc. then they have to weaken the dissolved oxygen criteria.  Otherwise there would be legal grounds to challenge the nutrient levels being allowed.  So DEP is also moving forward with replacing our statewide dissolved oxygen criteria with various criteria around the state.  

2.  But there is still a problem with these waters meeting their designated uses, which is the basis for the water quality standards in the first place.  So, DEP has submitted to EPA several months ago their new scheme to create “Class III limited” uses for our waters. This is what you have heard me refer to as “boatable/splashable” waters over the past several years.  DEP said that they expect by the end of June for EPA to approve these new categories of waters that are too polluted to support fish and aquatic life and too dirty for us to swim in.  EPA was at the Tuesday meeting and I asked them if this is true and they said yes.  That of course is very bad news.  According to a news report on Wednesday, DEP and it’s polluter friends claim that they are upset that EPA is not immediately withdrawing its nutrient criteria that was adopted for Florida.  I believe that this is simply more posturing and playing politics by the state and it’s polluters.  

It’s not too late for you to object to changes in our Designated Uses for our waters again and this time please send your objections to EPA in Washington, because I think that’s where the decision is being finalized and Region 4 has not been responsive to us. They are in lock-step with DEP and the polluters, sadly.  To send a message to EPA in Washington, please contact:

Nancy Stoner, 202-564-5700
stoner.nancy@epa.gov
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water (4100T)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460

3.  Georgia-Pacific pollution pipe to the St. Johns River – After 15 years of holding off DEP from issuing a permit to GP to build their dioxin-laden wastewater to the St. Johns River, apparently there is now a strong push by DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard to give GP the go-ahead to start construction.  This is in spite of the known fact (by EPA testing) that GP’s 25 mgd discharge is loaded with dioxin (about 2 to 3 orders of magnitude more than legally allowed).  Please take a few minutes to let Mr. Vinyard that we want GP to clean up their pollution and not be allowed to dump it in the St. Johns. They claim that the only problems with GP’s discharge is the specific conductance, color, chronic toxicity and dissolved oxygen. His contact is:

herschel.vinyard@dep.state.fl.us;

And you can also contact the Jacksonville office of DEP to let Greg Strong, district director know as well:

greg.strong@dep.fl.state.us

Here are a few facts taken from GP’s latest draft permit:

    A.  The discharge into the St. Johns will be through a 1043’ long pipe with holes all along it (called a diffuser) into the river.  Even this the enormous volume of water, the discharge (25 mgd) will cause water quality violations in the river.  To get around this problem the permit will give GP permission to violate water quality standards for 7 different pollutants including ionized ammonia (toxic), heavy metals, dissolved oxygen, color, chronic toxicity, specific conductance, and turbidity.  There is no water quality criterion applied to the discharge for dioxin.  The permit only requires that the dioxin levels are below 10 ppq.  The water quality criterion for dioxin is 0.014 ppq.  Even that small amount will cause cancer in people who eat fish from the river, as there is no safe level of dioxin and it is persistent in the environment and is bio-accumulative in fish and people.  

4  Buckeye – I also learned from EPA that the loopholes for Buckeye that DEP requested last year will be finalized within the next couple of months.  We will not allow this to stand!!! Buckeye’s discharge is twice the size of GP’s and has even more dioxin and other pollutants in it.  It is in the range of 50 million gallons per day and they want to dump this into the Gulf of Mexico in the Big Bend Aquatic Seagrass Preserve.  The current discharge which is 26 miles up the Fenholloway River has already created a 10 square mile dead zone in the preserve.  If you would like to imagine the volume of this discharge, think about the BP pipe that blasted oil and water into the Gulf of Mexico and that you saw on TV for months.  The volume of Buckeye’s discharge is 17 to 25 times (depending on if you believe BP’s estimates or if you believe the US govt. estimates of the amount of oil flowing from that broken pipe) the amount of BP’s discharge EVERY DAY!!!  It will not be turned off at some point, it will continue on and on.  So imagine 17 to 25 of the BP pipes flowing constantly into the Gulf of Mexico with thick, black, oily, toxic wastes coming out of them.  That’s what Buckeye, DEP and the EPA want us to accept.  I DON’T THINK SO!!!!

If Buckeye’s loopholes get approved by the EPA as we are expecting, then we will take them to court.  I have met with EPA twice in the past year about this issue.  We have provided them (and the record) with lots of scientific opinions, legal opinions, background information, etc.  EPA’s own pulp and paper experts have evaluated the mill and have provided assistance to Buckeye on how to correct their pollution problems.  Buckeye doesn’t want to correct their problems.  They want to externalize their operational costs on to us and simply move their discharge to the Gulf where they still need numerous loopholes in the law (just like GP) in order to dump their industrial sewage.  Please contact Nancy Stoner at EPA in Washington and tell her that we want our Gulf of Mexico protected and to deny permission for these loopholes.  Again her contact info is:

Nancy Stoner, 202-564-5700
stoner.nancy@epa.gov
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water (4100T)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460

I know this is a long weekly update, but many of you express appreciation for detailed news, so I try to send more details from time to time to help you in your work.  I am always happy to send additional information, so call or email me if you need more.

5.  In closing, I want to thank all of you who have been sending in your memberships and additional financial support. This is so crucial to our ongoing work.  Your donations are matched by one of our donors 1:1 so everything you send is doubled.  THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help.  Filing suit over the boatable/splashable water standards and Buckeye’s loopholes to the Gulf of Mexico is going to be expensive, so if you can help us in a small way or with a big donation, we will use every penny to fight for your waters and for clean water in years to come for future generations of children and grandchildren.  Florida is going through a difficult time right now in terms of leadership and the US isn’t doing much better, but we will continue to work for the protection of Florida’s waters, right along side of all of you.  Thank you so much for all that you do for Florida’s waters!!!

Your friend and fellow water-lover,

Linda Young
Director

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