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Pensacola Pass: Update on Oil Disaster: 06/14/10
By Linda Young
This morning I attended the press conference at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) where Senator Bill Nelson gave the briefing. It was refreshing to hear a politician talk straight and tell the truth about what is happening (for a change). There is bad news and there is some encouraging news to share. I’ll mix it up a bit, so you don’t get too overwhelmed with the bad news.
First of all, the oil came into Pensacola Pass yesterday and has been found in grapefruit-sized globs all the way to the Pensacola Beach bridge. A scientist at the EPA lab on Pensacola Beach (west of the bridge) reported that they have a little string of boom along their shore (I call it sausage boom, which is what you see everywhere and it is completely unhelpful as it’s only about one foot in diameter. It is the stuff they use on construction sites) and the waves are going right over it. The oil is all along the shore at the EPA lab, which is very disheartening to the scientists who work there, but don’t you think that the EPA could muster up a little bit better protection for their own real-estate?
We are told that we can expect to have oil coming ashore for at least the next few days. There is a huge island of oil right offshore, about 40 miles long and almost 2 miles wide and at least a foot thick that is rolling our way. The heat index is between 105 and 109 degrees, which at least helps to volatilize some of the oil. Escambia has finally received the heavy equipment that it requested from BP, which will be used to clean up the oil on the shoreline. It has been 7 weeks since the equipment was requested.
Senator Nelson said that he has been very critical of the command and control structure for the oil disaster. The Coast Guard has had 51% of the control and BP the rest. The Coast Guard (CG) has essentially been dysfunctional and has frustrated everyone. He feels that the structure is changing and that Escambia County at least is getting better communication from the CG over the past couple of days. He said the situation reached crisis level last week when the oil entered Perdido Pass and none of the local governments were given any warning. This means that the CG was not even watching the oil from helicopters and reporting its proximity to shore. Since then, a representative from Escambia County is working from the Incident Command Center in Mobile, AL and will hopefully facilitate communications. An upper level Escambia County administrator told me that the county has not received one penny from the state or federal government, or BP to date to pay for protecting their shores or waters or to cover the cost of dealing with this disaster.
Senator Nelson said that we can expect this situation to continue for many months if not years and that a well coordinated command center is critical. AMEN!!!
Senator Nelson reported that Congressional reps from the oil states are making it difficult to change the limit on BP’s liability to cover the damages. President Obama is expected to announce tomorrow that he is expecting BP to set up a $20 Billion trust fund to cover damages. He said it could be like a “New Deal” type of economic plan for the Gulf Coast and Nelson said the President would be telling us more about it this week. The immediate goal is to get claims paid quicker, either by a third party or by the government. The claims cannot continue to be administered by BP. Resources are not being deployed!!! He will also announce that the first steps will be taken to wean the US from oil. Nelson said the disaster is giving the President the political muscle he needs to move our country toward a more sustainable energy policy.
As I sit here typing this report, wave after wave of oil is washing ashore in Orange Beach, AL and there is not one skimmer boat in site. Nelson said this is because command and control at the CG is not working. They had no idea if there were any skimmer boats available when asked. Fortunately the Dutch government is sending their skimmer boats to us but they will not arrive until next month. They keep boats and booms (big ones, 8 ft in diameter) on hand in case of an accident. Isn’t that a novel idea?
I was happy to hear Sen. Nelson say the same thing that the CWN-FL has been saying for 6 weeks, which is that it’s important to keep the oil as far offshore as possible, where it can be up taken by skimmer boats, etc. He said, as we have been saying, that it should not be allowed to reach the beaches if at all possible. I still have not recovered from hearing Mike Sole and Charlie Crist say that our beaches are our best booms for stopping the oil. Arghhh!!! Nelson said that the oil should have been intercepted 25 or 50 miles offshore with skimmer boats and kept away, but unfortunately the state and federal government has had no interest in protecting our shores – AT ALL!!!
He told the reporters that the rest of the state has time to get ready before the oil reaches their shores and they should get ready. If you are reading this and you live beyond the panhandle, then please make your local government take action. Also, keep letting Governor Crist and DEP Sec. Mike Sole know that our beaches are not going to be Florida’s “best booms” and we expect them to wake up and get busy. Sen. Nelson does not think that any coast in Florida is safe from the oil. He said that the local governments need to be embedded in the nearest command center so they can be heard by the CG regarding what is needed by local governments. He also said that the White House seems to be catching on and that he expects their response to improve once the trust fund is in place.
Nelson said the big unknown right now is what is below the surface of the ocean. We know from the USF research that there are large plumes under the surface of the water which are moving far and wide. Also the oil tends to float in the day time when it’s warm outside and then at night it changes and tends to sink to the bottom.
The biggest problem we have right now, that is keeping us from protecting our coasts is that there is no clear chain of command. So therefore there has been no order for the skimmer boats to skim for instance. Also there are only a few boats available (he said there are three off the coast of Florida). He said that Pres. Obama has now put the CG in control. Yesterday, Escambia County’s coastal waters were put off limits for fishing and swimming.
Last week Nelson reported in an interview with Andrea Mitchell that the oil is bubbling up from the seabed around the pipe and that this is hugely troubling. When asked about that this morning, Nelson said that he believes that when they get down to the well and get it killed, the the oil will stop. [I independently asked a Gulf of Mexico ship captain with over 30 years in the industry, if this is possible. It sounds impossible. But he said that it is completely possible and that when BP gets the new wells in place that it should work just right. This is a person that I trust to tell me the truth. Apparently the well is some 18,000 feet below the floor of the ocean and yet they can still pump concrete down that far, with enough pressure to reverse the flow of the oil and gas and make the whole thing stop flowing. I’m very relieved to hear this from someone that I trust.]
So – that’s what I learned this morning. I’ll share more news as I learn more. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated hearing a briefing from Sen. Nelson. He was honest, straight-forward, and very knowledgeable. He confirmed everything that we have been saying for the past six weeks, which was not necessarily good news, but it tells me that the information we’ve been getting is accurate and we have been offering the correct advice to our members.
It seems to me that if our federal government, via the CG will kick into gear and get money to our local governments, then we can begin protecting our shores and waters. The state of Florida seems to be almost totally dysfunctional, from what I can tell. Maybe that will change.
Yesterday I went out on the Navarre Beach pier and it was teaming with marine life. I don’t know if all the animals are being pushed this way to avoid the oil or if they were excited about the new, longest pier in Florida. But in one hour I saw many dolphins, a huge sea turtle, thousands of fish, an enormous manta-ray, several barracudas, and lots of big fish being caught (mackerel, etc). It was heart-warming to see all that sea life and also extremely troubling to think that they could soon all be dead. I got into the Gulf myself and swam for about an hour and nothing bad happened to me (so far). I was concerned that there could be dispersants in the water, but didn’t detect anything. I may not go back in anytime soon, but I wanted to go swimming in the Gulf at least one more time. Normally, this time of year, I would be swimming in the Gulf every day after work and on weekends, and I miss that. However, this is not about me. An incredible ecosystem is being destroyed and I don’t know what the chances for recovery may be.
In closing, if you live in a coastal county of Florida – PLEASE MAKE YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT GET PREPARED FOR THE OIL. It will very likely be on your beach sooner or later.
WE ARE NOW PAYING THE TRUE COST OF COMPROMISE: 06/11/10
By Linda Young
As director of a statewide environmental organization that works to keep our beaches clean and safe and the founder of Gulf Coast Environmental Defense, a panhandle group opposed to opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to new drilling, I have spent the past 23 years working to avoid the nightmare that is now unfolding all around me.
Watching Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning, I listened to Governor Crist say that our beaches and shorelines are the best booms that we have to catch the sticky, toxic oil that is slowly creeping into Florida. The same statement was attributed to his Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Mike Sole in a Gannett newspaper last weekend. I admit that even after 23 years of dealing with bureaucrats who care little about our waters, I was horrified to hear our governor say these words.
Since 1993, Florida has been in a steady downward slide in search of the bottom rung on the ladder of environmental protection. We may have finally arrived with our pathetic response to the life-sucking disaster that encroaches deeper by the moment into our state waters. Years of environmental compromise for the sake of political expediency have incrementally desensitized our sunshine and blue-water culture. The media, local governments and many business owners have quietly watched, sometimes given a nod and even when necessary cheered in unison with the polluters as they have systematically dismantled our environmental safeguards. Today, we are witnessing an environmentally dysfunctional and detached state bureaucracy that can do little more than make excuses to the public out of one side of their mouths, while they quickly secure cushy contracts for their polluter-connected political buddies. Meanwhile, dead turtles, dolphins, pelicans and fish take their last oily breaths and slowly drift through the endless sea of despair.
No, this is not a cheery synopsis. I’m not here to beg anyone to come to the beach where I live and grew up, in order to help the local economy. I’m here to say the same thing I said last month in May, standing before the Florida DEP and the Environmental Regulation Commission (ERC) in Tallahassee. We must stop using the Gulf of Mexico as a political bargaining chit.
DEP was there to seek final permission from the ERC to weaken water quality standards, in order to accommodate a deliberate 50 million gallon-per-day toxic discharge into the Gulf of Mexico. The new estimates of the amount of oil coming from BP’s blow-out disaster come to 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day, which could mean just under 2 million gallons per day. Multiply that worse case scenario by 25 and that is what DEP thinks we should accept into the Big Bend Aquatic Seagrass Preserve, an important fishery, from the Buckeye pulp mill. While crude oil pours from BP’s destroyed rig, Buckeye wants permission to dump industrial waste that is also chronically toxic and loaded with sludge, oils and grease, dioxin, and a whole host of life-destroying pollutants.
How did we arrive on the shores of America’s playground, where our Governor characterizes our beaches as the perfect oil-booms and our environmental regulators legitimize mass destruction of important near-shore fisheries? If this is the death of common sense and decency, then it came by way of a thousand cuts. We the people, the voters, the taxpayers of Florida elect these self-serving politicians who allow their polluter friends to externalize the cost of containing their waste. It is passed on to us, and some days we barely notice the debt that is accruing in our names. But one morning we wake up and the piper is at the door, demanding payment for our acquiescence.
Governor Crist, Attorney General McCollum, DEP Secretary Mike Sole and others that should be trustworthy have handed over important responsibilities for protecting Florida’s shores to a handful of BP and oil industry cronies. Jim Smith, a former BP lobbyist, is leading our legal team. Our counties are being directed to adopt oil-protection plans developed by WRSCompass, a company whose CEO is the former chief-of-staff to Dick Cheney. The same company, according to the Destin Log newspaper, is helping BP get charter boats under contract and has worked for BP in previous years. WRSCompass even earned BP’s Diamond Safety Award. I can only wonder how it is possible to win a safety award from BP.
The citizens of Florida should not accept another day of political expediency, externalized costs or fluffy protection from our state officials. We are not helpless turtles that are forced to gulp oil into our lungs and sink to the bottom. Our leaders may be focused on the bottom rung of environmental protection, but we do not have to go there with them. Now is the time to say no. The cost of complacency is too high and we will no longer pay your piper!
No More Lame Excuses: 06/10/10
By Linda Young
WHY IS OIL BEING ALLOWED TO ENTER OUR INLAND WATERS????There is no excuse for the Coast Guard and State environmental regulators allowing BP's oil to enter Perdido Pass this week. The small booms that are scattered here and there, are actually doing more harm than good. There are larger booms widely available for purchase, which BP and the state have both refused to deploy in the Gulf in a meaningful way. There are absorbent booms and pads and skimmer devices that could be keeping the oil out, but are also not in use. There are virtually unlimited options available to entities who claim to be in charge, which are not being availed.
Whatever the lame excuse for not protecting our shores may be, it is unacceptable to all of us. We demand immediate action on the Gulf and for our inland waters. Please go to the action alert page to email Governor Crist and DEP Secretary Mike Sole to let them know we expect them to either lead or step aside.
Also, please go to the Gulf of Mexico page on here to see how you can send a more powerful message to Mike Sole that will make sure that he knows we are serious and that we are not impressed with his leadership to date.
Large Amounts of Oil in Perdido Pass
ORANGE BEACH, Alabama - A lot of activity was buzzing around Boggy Point at the end of Marina Road Wednesday morning due to a large amount of oil washing ashore and flowing into Perdido Bay and then Perdido Pass. Oil had already hit Perdido Bay earlier in the week, but the boom that was supposed to protect the Perdido Pass appears to be funneling the oil into Perdido Bay. Robinson Island and Perdido Island are still protected, but there are large amounts of oil coming into the bay Cotton Bayou and Terry Cove. All the marinas around Canal Road all have evidence of the oil sheen. Boats working in the area are pulling boom trying to skim and absorb as much oil as they can. A lot of attention has been paid to the beaches, but the bay is just as important. This is the area where everything comes in, including fish and crab, to lay their eggs and have babies, so life there will be affected for years to come.
Oil Disaster Weekly Update - June #1: 06/08/10
By Linda Young
I just want to give you an update on the spill. First of all thank you again for your emails, letters and phone calls on the oil disaster to the state officials. It is making a difference. I have received so many follow-up emails from you, with the outstanding contacts that you have made through your groups, communities and friends. I am amazed by how far and wide we reach. We have seen Governor Crist finally start asking for more money from BP, first an additional $50 million last week and then another $100 million was requested over the weekend. I’m not sure how that money will be allocated if the state receives it, but I do know that our local governments are begging for equipment and resources to clean up the oil and they are not getting cooperation from BP. The state is still not taking the type of proactive steps to protect our shores that the Clean Water Network of FL and our local governments expect to be taken. So please continue to forward any and all information that you receive from me, to your local government, state officials and other helpful contacts that may be in a position to help.
Before I go any further, I want to give you a bit of good news. I just finished an hour long TV interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp about the spill. The reporter shared with me that in two days there will be a big event in Mobile, Alabama where the Canadian Ambassador to the US will officially present a bunch of off-shore boom to the US. Apparently this is not the pathetic little boom that BP and the state are using, which is designed to be used around construction sites and not in the Gulf of Mexico or in open waters (it’s too small for that). This is real boom that the Canadian government keeps on hand in case there’s a spill. Hmmmm . . . Now there’s a novel idea.
I encourage you to watch the internet for news stories, as well as our facebook pages for Clean Water Network of FL and Florida Clean Water Network. Also our website (address below) which I have been updating less frequently, but it has our citizens’ tool kit and other news. I can also send you the full toolkit by email it you need for me to.
You have probably seen Admiral Thad Allen on TV, telling us that this is going to continue being an issue for the rest of this year. Excuse me, Admiral but this is going to be an issue for years and we at the Clean Water Network of FL and our partners are trying to think long-term as well as what needs to be done immediately. While it is impossible to know what the future will bring, we can anticipate likelihoods and urge our state, federal and local governments to be proactive on getting protections in place in advance. A good example of wise, proactive government actions can be found in Walton County, where a rare resource called “dune-lakes” are found. They exist at only one other place in the world. Walton County is currently building berms to block Gulf waters from entering these lakes, which are primarily fresh water except during rare occasions when the Gulf gets high enough to come over the low natural berms, such as during a hurricane. It would be devastating for the oil-contaminated Gulf to get into these lakes. The County is building a double set of berms across each lake and then putting booms behind the second berm. In my opinion, this is the type of proactive work that should be provided by the state, but is not happening.
There was an article in the Gannett papers over the weekend where Mike Sole told the reporter that the best oil booms we have in Florida are our beaches. That would be unbelievable to me if I had not been dealing with Mr. Sole over the past several years and had the opportunity to learn first hand how little he cares for Florida’s resources. A local newspaper reported a few weeks ago (and this was confirmed to me by a local environmental leader who also heard it) that Mr. Sole told a district BP representative in a meeting about the oil spill that BP has no need to worry in the Panhandle, because DEP would take good care of them. Whew!!! That is bold, but he knows that he answers to the leadership of the Florida Legislature and they are completely in cahoots with big oil. Please do not be fooled by his mild manner and seemingly humble countenance. He is not on our side!
It is disappointing to hear the men in charge for the feds or the state, speak in a way that sounds like they are being deliberately misleading. I think we know that we cannot trust their judgment (at a minimum) or their integrity (possibility). For the uninformed, they come across as sincere, but clearly they are both compromised. Sorry to say. I wish we had someone we could go to for real, honest, cutting-edge information. I sincerely hope that if the oil continues to spread to other parts of Florida, that our efforts to strengthen protection for our waters in the Panhandle, will be helpful to the rest of Florida’s coast.
On a more positive note, I can report that BP contract workers are keeping some of the beaches very clean of oil and even cigarette butts. The clean-up efforts seem to be spotty, but at least here on Navarre Beach where I live, the beach is being kept in immaculate shape. So far. The air is a different story and at various times during the day and night, the odor from the oil can be mild to very strong.
Believe it or not, we are still working on all of our other projects that are important to Florida’s waters such as the new designated use (unswimmable/barely fishable waters), Buckeye pulpmill, TMDLs/Impaired Waters Rule and numeric nutrient criteria. I’m going post updates on those issues and ask for help again, but in a separate post. This one is too long already. Thank you to everyone who made it all the way to this point. You are real troopers and I appreciate you more than you can know.
Give Florida's waters every possible protection regardless of cost to BP: 06/04/10
By Linda Young
Cost to BP should not be a factor in implementing precautionsI live in the Florida Panhandle, about 200 feet from the Gulf of Mexico. Soon I will lose track of the number of times that I’ve smelled the growing mass of oil that looms out past the southern horizon. When I go for my evening walk these days, I’m already conditioned to check the air first to make sure that “the smell” is not back. I learned that lesson a few weeks ago when, after walking in it for over an hour, I returned home with a splitting headache.
It’s been seven weeks since the BP oil well exploded and took 11 lives. There has been a lot of criticism of the federal government’s handling of this unprecedented disaster, but my expectations are much closer to home. I’ve waited and watched for encouraging signs that my state and local governments are gearing up to provide maximum protection for our waters. I do see a few oil booms stretched out here and there along shorelines and I was able to get a copy of my county’s protection plan, which completely relies on these few booms.. However, the county initially wanted more extensive protections for our fairly pristine, highly productive estuaries, bayous, marshes and rivers, but those plans were scaled back by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). What??? Why would the state agency that is tasked with protecting our environment ask a county to take fewer precautions?
Could it have anything to do with the fact that FDEP signed a no-bid contract with a consulting firm called WRSCompass, which was hired to work with Florida cities and counties in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster? This North Carolina-based company’s chief executive is Kathleen Shanahan, a former chief-of-staff to Jeb Bush and former vice-president Dick Cheney. Cheney’s former company, Halliburton, conducted repairs on the Deepwater site hours before the April 20 explosion which triggered the massive oil spill. Records show that on May 8th, FDEP awarded the contract, which is worth as much as $250,000 to the company. General Counsel for WRSCompass is Greg Munson, whose most recent position was General Counsel for the Florida FDEP. That may sound appropriate for a consulting firm now advising counties as they prepare for the onslaught of toxic oil, but Mr. Munson’s litigation strategies for the Bush administration were often much more friendly to the state’s polluters than to clean water and air advocates.
While I am no expert on keeping oil off of our beaches and out of the intercoastal waterway, I can see from my research that we are not doing anywhere near all that we can do to prepare and protect our waters from the oil that is sure to come. Additionally, what plans are in place to move people who can’t live in their homes when the oil moves closer and the fumes are overwhelming? I have heard nothing of these plans so far.
On May 20th, I served a verified complaint on Mike Sole, Secretary of the Florida DEP. My complaint reminded Secretary Sole that he is obligated by Florida law to protect Florida’s air, water and land from unlawful pollution. Our air has already been impacted by BP’s disaster and soon our waters will, as well. It has been seven weeks since this disaster began and our state has not taken enforcement action against BP. Is this overly-slow reaction further related to the appointment of former Attorney General Jim Smith as a key strategizer for the state’s potential litigation against BP? Mr. Smith was a registered lobbyist for BP for several recent years.
Whatever the reason, time is wasting and we, the taxpayers of Florida, want assurances that our state officials are doing everything in their power to protect our resources. As citizens we have the authority to hold the Florida DEP accountable when it fails to enforce our environmental laws. My verified complaint to Mr. Sole gives him notice that legal actions may result if his sluggish response to this disaster continues, and any citizen of Florida can join me in this effort.
Finally there's something you can do - Fortress Florida: 05/26/10
By Linda Young
For more than a month now, we have all eagerly watched our news outlets for some shred of good news regarding the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. That good news has not materialized. As we watch the image on TV or the internet of the millions of gallons of oil spewing into our beautiful Gulf waters, our hearts get heavier and heavier with grief and a sense of helplessness. We are activists and helplessness is a feeling that doesn’t sit well in our hearts.
I have been watching and hoping to see aggressive preventive and protective measures put into place by local, state and national governments. Some efforts are reported and some are obvious, but a full-scale, high-tech, top-shelf plan is not evident and apparently doesn’t exist. Our Attorney General has put former Attorney General Jim Smith in a leadership role for guiding the state’s legal position. Mr. Smith has been a registered lobbyist for BP in the recent past and clearly has a conflict of interest and has also never demonstrated any strong interest in protecting Florida’s natural resources.
At DEP, Secretary Mike Sole is obviously in charge. We know, without any doubt, that Mr. Sole has absolutely no interest in protecting Florida’s environment. He proves that daily through his policy decisions and agency actions. Mr. Sole has proven time and time again that his first and only allegiance is to politically powerful polluters that he has the ability to protect from us – the taxpayers and citizens of Florida who care about our resources. In my opinion, Florida could not have a less reliable person in charge of coordinating an oil protection plan for Florida’s waters.
Many of you have called and emailed me to ask what I would recommend to help with this unprecedented disaster. I’ve thought long and hard about what would be our best action, together as the Clean Water Network of Florida. After discussing this with a number of scientists and my attorneys, we have decided that it is not good advice to encourage anyone to get personally in contact with the oil when it enters our waters. It is toxic and hazardous to your health. Why should you endanger your health when it is BP’s responsibility to hire professional, trained, well-supplied workers to deal with this problem? I hope you will reconsider if you are thinking of doing anything that will put you in contact with the oil.
There is something you can do, however, and the Clean Water Network of Florida is happy to report that our board member and attorney Steven A. Medina has put together a citizen’s toolkit to help you have an effective voice in how Florida addresses the spill. The toolkit provides a fill in the blank verified complaint that you can use to send a strong message to Mike Sole at DEP. I served my complaint in person on Thursday when I was at the DEP building for the ERC meeting. (That was the day Sole’s staff got the ERC to approve a 50 to 60 million gallon per day discharge to the Gulf of Mexico from the Buckeye Florida pulp mill and also to approve a new water classification/designated use for polluted waters that are unswimmable and barely fishable). I hope that you will join me in filling it out, getting it notarized, and sending it to DEP.
This complaint does not mean you have sued DEP. It is a required first step before you can file suit against the agency. I’m hoping that it won’t be necessary to ever file suit and that our state will get serious about making BP provide the required resources to protect our state waters before the oil gets to our shores. I’m hoping that immediate economic assistance will be provided to all businesses and individuals who are being financially impacted by the oil spill. BP should be doing anything and everything needed by the people of Florida to deal with the impacts of this spill.
There are many lawsuits being filed in anticipation of damages that will be suffered both by businesses and individuals. We are not interested in assessing the damages right now. We want to prevent them. I am asking you to do a few things as soon as possible to make our campaign to protect Florida from this disaster a success:
- Please read the toolkit materials on our website and think through them carefully. If you would like to do as I have done and send FDEP a verified complaint (30-day notice letter), then please follow your heart and take appropriate action. You are not filing a lawsuit, but you are letting FDEP know that this is one of your options if they do not get serious about protecting our waters from the oil.
- If you choose not to send the notice letter then please write your own letter to FDEP and express your thoughts in that way.
- Whether or not you use our toolkit or write your own letter, please pass this campaign information on to everyone you know in Florida and encourage them to consider being a part of this statewide movement.
- If you have a website for your organization, please post a link to our campaign materials on the CWN-FL website.
- Make sure that your local government knows about the campaign and pass on the link to our materials. We are encouraging local governments that are dissatisfied with the resources available to them for armoring their shorelines to join us in this proactive effort.
- Make a generous, special donation today to CWN-FL’s Fortress Florida Oil Disaster Fund by sending a check to the Clean Water Network of Florida, PO Box 254, Tallahassee, FL 32302.
Our legal team is working to keep the pressure on Florida officials in order to get the best possible protection for our state waters. Remember the only rights you have are the ones you can enforce. Your support of CWN-FL’s citizen enforcement campaign, Fortress Florida, will strengthen the only statewide effort to hold the state and BP accountable. We are working on a list of pro-bono attorneys who are willing to represent citizens who want to take the next step in filing suit against the FDEP if that becomes necessary. We hope that the Governor’s office and FDEP will make every effort to protect our waters from the oil and citizen suits will not become necessary. You will be kept informed about everything that we learn and what we do along the way. Please watch our website for updates in addition to email alerts that we will send to you. Thank you in advance for reading this long post and for the time and attention that you devote to this matter. Together we CAN have an impact and get better protection for our state and its amazing resources.
Polluters Cry and DEP Lies: 04/12/10
By Linda Young
There is a mid-sized panic spreading across Florida over recent months that is being characterized by politically powerful polluters as, “heavy-handed, federal government meddling in a state issue”. The “meddling” has to do with pollution limits that the US EPA is setting for Florida waters – which are being required by a federal court. The fuel for the fire-storm of controversy is being largely provided (at tax-payer expense) by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Dept. of Agriculture. If that statement adds to the confusion and you are wondering why the state environmental agency would oppose pollution limits, please read on.
For more than a decade, FDEP has watched the lakes, streams, springs and bays in our state go through a rapid transformation. Think of having to watch someone go from being a beautiful, productive person to being a complete drug addict on a death-march. Not only have our environmental cops failed to stop the decline of our waters, they have enabled this sad and costly process. Using my drug-addict analogy, they have been feeding our sick waters even more drugs, day after day.
The consequences of this behavior are being witnessed by all of us: unnatural and excessive algal growth, fish kills, loss of grassbeds, contaminated fish and shellfish, etc. There is not one place in the state not experiencing at least some excess nutrient pollution in their waters. It is no longer a small problem, it is statewide and it is costly. It affects our health, our economy and our future use of Florida’s unique and spectacular waters. To do nothing is not an option, and that is exactly what will happen if EPA doesn’t step in and enforce the Clean Water Act in Florida – something that FDEP has spent millions of your tax-dollars to avoid for the past twelve years.
EPA’s proposed pollution limits for nitrogen and phosphorus are not overly protective or stringent. They are adequate and have an acceptable basis in science. Will they restore our waters to a pristine condition? No. Will they help the current situation, which is headed for total demise? Yes – if they are implemented and enforced. That is a big if, since most of the implementation and enforcement will fall on the shoulders of FDEP, and there is a long history of our state regulators and politicians having a strong dislike for the Clean Water Act and its vision for protecting our waters.
The most interesting component of the current conflict between state and federal environmental regulators is that FDEP is aggressively opposing EPA’s proposed pollution limits, though they are almost identical to the limits the state has been contemplating for the past couple of years (but not taking action on). In some cases, EPA’s proposed pollution limits are less stringent than those developed by the state.
If you look deeper into the details of EPA’s proposed rule to limit nutrient pollution, there are actually several troubling concerns regarding how EPA would determine compliance with the proposed pollution limits. For instance, for lakes and streams, EPA would allow data to be averaged over an entire year to determine the level of nutrients or chlorophyll A that are present in the water. This annual averaging would allow serious problems to be masked or “averaged away.”
Multiple samples should be taken each month and compliance should be determined by a monthly average. Fish and other aquatic life do not survive “on average,” rather they survive every moment if they are to continue. If a water is seriously affected by unnatural algal or bacterial growth for any substantial period, that should be seen as an impairment.
If Florida is serious about being the country’s playground, and we want our waters to remain safe and desirable for fishing, swimming and drinking, we need to take action now to get them back on the path to being healthy and clean. The EPA’s rule is an important first step that must be followed by close scrutiny from all of us to make sure that the pollution limits are implemented and enforced. Just like the drug-addict that I used in my earlier example, there will be a strong desire by polluters to hang-on to their destructive behaviors and we must be equally determined to clean up our waters, to stop the flow of poison into them and to work together for our common good and for the future.
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