Action Alerts
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Current Alerts
To submit an action alert, please send an e-mail to Leah Ellington.
05/06/08: Tell Sole and Crist - NO permits for papermill pollution pipelines
Please contact Governor Crist and DEP Secretary Mike Sole to let them know how disappointed we are that they are helping International Paper Company circumvent the Clean Water Act and Florida laws. After winning a huge court battle to stop IP from building a pollution pipe to Perdido Bay, Friends of Perdido Bay is now facing yet another administrative hearing to stop virtually the same permit again.
Contact Governor Crist and Secretary Sole and let them know we want Florida's paper mills to clean up their pollution, stop using any chlorine-based bleaching methods (creates dioxin in the wastewater and air) and stop wasting our precious groundwater.
Dear Governor Crist and Secretary Sole - I am so terribly disappointed that Florida (DEP and the Governor's office) is poised to give International Paper Company a permit to build a pollution pipe to Perdido Bay. This is an insult to our legal process and the many thousands of citizens who worked to get this outrageous pollution problem stopped. IP has been operating without a legitimate permit for many years now and they are the largest paper company in the world. They can afford to clean up their wastewater! There is no reason to let them keep breaking the law and killing our resources. Please do not move forward with a permit for IP. Make them remove all chlorine-based bleaching chemicals from their process and recycle their wastewater. This is the 21st Century - lets get with the program in Florida and stop reading off propaganda from the 1950's that still says, "Dilution is the solution to Pollution".
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04/15/08: Tell Gov. Crist - Don't waste our money!!!
URGENT!!
Please Contact Governor Charlie Crist and your state Representative and State Senator and ask them to stop wasting our money on a new, unneeded airport in Panama City.
Dear Governor - As the Legislature takes its red pen to important social programs for sick people, children and orphans, you and your state agencies continue to push for money to be wasted on new construction at the Bay County Airport in Panama City. This is unbelievable that Florida would move forward to spend another $67 million to build the airport, plus $12 million to attract industry to the airport, when so many important responsibilities of the state are being set aside. What can you be thinking?
Please get your priorities straight and take care of the vulnerable people in Florida before you give St. Joe any more corporate welfare.
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08/15/07: Let Sole know he did the right thing!
Please send an email to DEP Secretary Mike Sole to let him know you support the denial of a permit to International Paper Company. This mill has ignored the law for decades and DEP has previously aided and abetted their unlawful pollution. This is a big turn-around for DEP and for Florida.Dear Secretary Sole - I want to let you know that I support the decision to deny International Paper Co. a permit to pollute Perdido Bay, Perdido River and the wetlands and lakes near by. This mill has ignored the law for decades and it is heartening to see an administrative law judge and you both do the right thing in this case. There are two more mills in Florida that want to build pipelines to larger waters to dilute their pollution - Buckeye and Georgia Pacific. Dilution is not the solution to pollution. Make these mills clean up their dioxin-contaminated waste and retore our waters.
Thank you again for this important decision.
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06/16/07: NO MORE CORPORATE WELFARE FOR JOE!
Please contact Governor Crist right away and ask him to stop FDOT from wasting anymore of our hard-earned tax dollars on a new airport for Bay County. Here's 10 good reasons why:
- A local ballot question about whether or not a new airport should be built was overwhelmingly negative, with 56 to 44% of the voters saying they did not want a new airport.
- The airport will be built on 4,000 acres of which half are jurisdictional wetlands, including 400 acres of cypress ponds.
- The low-lying land for the airport site has numerous feeder creeks to the two main streams that provide 60% of the fresh water to West Bay. All these creeks will be destroyed, filled and replaced with drainage canals and other mechanisms. West Bay, the 6th most biologically diverse estuary in North America, will be destroyed forever.
- The airport land is lush with wildlife including bears, bob-cats, otter, turkeys, deer, and even panthers have been sited by numerous hunters and local nearby residents.
- An additional 9,000 acres of wetlands around the airport site will be destroyed for additional development.
- FAA has documented that there is no transportation need for a new airport.
- The current airport is unused and completely adequate for decades into the future.
- St. Joe and the Bay County Airport Authority claim that the airport is too short for transcontinental jets but this is not true.
- there are not huge jumbo jets going to Panama City
- if the airport were required to accommodate larger planes in the future, an EMAS system could be used to provide extreme safety
- If the current airport is abandoned, the site will be sold to developers who plan to build a huge marina onsite which will kill many acres of grassbeds and degrade water quality in the bay.
- The FAA confirmed through a Benefit/Cost analysis that the real reason for the airport is the enhancement of real estate value for development.
Dear Governor Crist:
Your FDOT is wasting our money on a new airport for Bay County. A new airport is not needed and is not wanted by the majority of Bay County citizens. Please make FDOT stop the flow of money to this project which is nothing more than corporate welfare for the St. Joe Development Company.
The airport will be built in the headwaters of the pristine West Bay - one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in all of North America. This estuary is a nursery for the fish we all love to catch out in the Gulf of Mexico. As a fisherman, we know you understand the importance of having clean nursery areas for fish to grow up in before they head out to sea. West Bay is a treasure that must be protected!
We know that you are trying to stop wasteful spending in Florida and we truly appreciate your efforts. Please look into this terribly wasteful project and stop the flow of money to it.
Thank you!!!
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05/20/07: Courageous Judge deserves your Support
In our newsclips section (see Champion/International Paper) you will see an editorial from Saturday's Pensacola News Journal regarding the DOAH's Judge Bram Canter's Recommended Denial of International Paper's permit to build a pipe to Perdido Bay. Here is the link to his full Recommended Order in case you would like to read it. http://www.doah.state.fl.us/ros/2005/05-1609.pdf.
We would like to draw your attention to two issues related to this matter.
- The judge's order and the PNJ opinion piece both do an excellent job of exposing the major disfunctions that have unfolded over the past 15 years or so at DEP. There have been many demonstrations of these problems over the years, but once again we have an opportunity to look at the hard cold facts and do something. There is no excuse for having a state agency being so completely driven by politics and money.
- If this judge's recommendation is to be upheld, there will need to be substantial public awareness and pressure on the Governor and DEP. ALL OF THE OTHER PAPER MILLS, ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES, NUMEROUS LEGISLATORS AND MANY OTHER POWERFUL ENTITIES WILL BE PUTTING MASSIVE PRESSURE ON DEP AND THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE TO OVER-RIDE THE JUDGE'S RECOMMENDATIONS. We can't let this happen. Perdido Bay, once a beautiful and productive estuary is almost dead and cannot take IP's pollution for much longer. This order must be upheld in order to save Perdido Bay.
Also, Clean Water Network of Florida and some of our members are headed for an administrative hearing over the Buckeye pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico (Fenholloway estuary)later this year or early 2008. We have the same DOAH judge for that case. If he gets public support for his courageous stand, he will have even more reason to recommend denial of Buckeye's proposed permit (as the Buckeye case is far more agregious than IP's). If he gets over-ruled (and possibly even reprimanded), then he will surely not stick his neck out again. Georgia-Pacific's permit for a pipe to the St. Johns River is coming up again later this year (their application is in right now) and we will be going back to hearing over that permit again. If DEP is forced to follow the law and stop giving these huge discharges a pass around the Clean Water Act, then maybe these deadly mills will finally have to update their technology and clean up their messes.
Your help is immediately needed to let the Governor and DEP know that this judge's recommendations should be followed. DEP cannot be allowed to over-rule this judge. Perdido Bay cannot be allowed to die. If we could get Florida's paper mills cleaned up, it would have a huge impact on many Florida rivers and estuaries. Here's the list:
- IP - Pensacola, discharges into Perdido Bay and then the Gulf of Mexico; about 25 to 30 mgd
- Smurfit/Stone Container, Panama City discharges into St. Andrews Bay and then the Gulf of Mexico; about 35 mgd
- Buckeye Florida, Perry, discharges into the Fenholloway River and then the Gulf of Mexico; about 50 mgd
- Georgia Pacific, Palatka, discharges into Rice Creek and then the St. Johns River, about 25 to 30 mgd
- Rayoneer, Fernandina Beach, discharges into the Amelia River and then to the Atlantic Ocean,
Please send the email below or one of your own choosing to Governor Crist and Mike Sole. You can help make a big difference on the future of Florida's waters.
Dear Governor: DOAH Judge Bram Canter has recommended that DEP deny a permit to International Paper Company. I am sending this message to urge you to uphold Judge Canter's recommendation. IP has been violating state and federal laws for many decades and it is time that they clean up their mess. They are the largest paper company in for world and they can afford to have up to date technology that will eliminate any pollution to Eleven-mile Creek, Perdido Bay or the Perdido River.
Please get all of Florida's papermills updated and cleaned up. This is a good place to start. Take a stand, say no to 1950's technologies and 1940's thinking. Dilution is NOT the solution to pollution!
Governor - stand by your Judge. Say no to IP and their pollution plan. Tell them to clean it up right and stop passing their cost of doing business on to the rest of Florida and Alabama.
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04/27/07: Get ROAD RAGE - Quickly please
On April 19th, Clean Water Network of Florida submitted a Petition for an Administrative Hearing to the Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority at their monthly meeting. Previously, Clean Water Network had requested information from the Authority regarding opportunities for the public to challenge their plans for new roads across the Panhandle. The Authority never answered our question in writing, but at the March meeting of the Authority, their attorney told the Authority board that the state agency is exempt from Chapter 120 requirements (that is the place in the Florida Statutes that requires state agencies to give the public an opportunity to challenge final agency actions).
The Authority says that their Master Plan Phase II can change over time. That's fine and dandy. But they need to let the public/taxpayers know when they will have an opportunity to raise a legal objection to this road building plan that will do nothing to fix traffic and safety problems on Hwy. 98. The proposed roads will go right through environmentally sensitive areas and state conservation areas and encourage new development in these areas. It is largely designed to subsidize St. Joe's lands, but also caters to NWFTCA board member Jay Odum, who has one of the largest new developments in the Panhandle called Hammock Bay (Walton County). Also it puts a new 4-land highway to former Speaker of the House (right before he and his wife went to federal prison) Bo Johnson's proposed new wetland development in Santa Rosa County.
Governor, the Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority has adopted a Master Plan for new roads across eight/nine counties in the Panhandle. Most people object to the corridors that were chosen. In spite of all the public opposition, the Authority approved their proposed corridors with no discussion about the public comments.
Please reign in this Authority. The Clean Water Network of Florida has requested an Administrative Hearing on the Master Plan. Please tell the Authority that they have to give CWN of FL (which represents thousands of citizens) a hearing. The Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority is meeting on May 2nd to decide on the hearing. Thank you for your help Governor Crist. We are counting on you.
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03/07/07: Biology and Legal Interns Wanted
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP SAVE A RIVER? Clean Water Network of Florida is accepting applications for summer interns right now. We need law students who have completed at least two years of law school and biology/ecology/oceanography grad students. You will have an opportunity to work with some of the best environmental attorneys and scientists in the country. This may be your best chance to save one of Florida's most precious waterways. If you would like an application or have questions email Linda Young at Clean Water Network of Florida at the llyoung2@earthlink.net.
Please send me an application for an internship. (Include any further comments you may have.)
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03/07/07: Fishable or Boatable?
URGENT!
Please contact Governor Charlie Crist and DEP Secretary Mike Sole with this message: (see government contacts for their contact information).
Our springs, lakes, rivers and estuaries are overloaded with pollution. Florida DEP is not helping this problem with its efforts to weaken our approved water quality standards. Stop DEP's rules that weaken our water protections. These rules include the following:
1. Impaired Waters Rule - needs to be abolished and removed from Florida's water quality standards (EPA has not approved this change)
2. SSAC rule - Chapter 62-302.800 - This rule was changed in January 2006 to allow alternative criteria to be used almost anywhere in the state. DEP has already applied it to dissolved oxygen in the lower St. Johns River (CWN of FL has sued EPA to stop this) and will likely try to use it to allow more pollution in other waters that require TMDLs (pollution limits). This rule change should be reversed.
3. Designated Uses - this major component of Florida's water quality standards is threatened right now by DEP's determination to create new categories of waters which will allow much higher levels of pollution. These uses would include waters that are:
- splashable rather than swimmable;
- boatable rather than fishable;
DEP should abandon its plans to create new categories for highly polluted waters.
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03/05/07: Buckeye pipeline permit
Contact Governor Crist and ask him to make DEP rescind the proposed permit for Buckeye's pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico. This mill has already caused a 10 square mile dead zone in the Gulf (right in the middle of the Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve) and moving the pollution to the Gulf will only make this dead zone larger. Buckeye can upgrade its technology and avoid polluting the Fenholloway River and the Gulf of Mexico.
Dear Governor Crist - we are so excited to have you in the Governor's office. We know that you are committed to protecting Florida's environment and we need your help. The Buckeye pulp mill in Perry is trying to get a permit to build a 60 million gallon a day pipeline to the mouth of the Fenholloway River. Buckeye's very toxic discharge has already killed over 10 square miles of seagrasses in the Big Bend near the mouth of the Fenholloway River. Buckeye's pollution is not only illegal, it is completely unnecessary. Please tell DEP to go back to the drawing board and write a permit for Buckeye that will make Buckeye clean up its toxic discharge. Governor, we are counting on you!
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