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Guest column: Why is it so hard to achieve good water quality standards?
By Judith Hushon, Ph.D.
Naples
Chair, Collier County Environmental Advisory Council
Most of us moved to southwest Florida for birding, fishing, boating or just the lovely panoramic views of our lakes, rivers and beaches. No one will be happy if our Florida waters become covered with algae and dead fish from high levels of "nutrient" pollution (from sources such as sewage and fertilizer). That is what happens when water quality is degraded by nutrients, and this year, the state legislature, at the request of the agricultural and utility industries, is pushing us in this unacceptable direction to the detriment of our waters, quality of life, and our tourism based economy.
For years, the state of Florida has used an ineffective "narrative" nutrient water quality standard. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked all states, including Florida, to create "numeric" standards, according to the Clean Water Act.
Just as a speed limit tells drivers how fast they can drive safely, numeric water quality standards tell us how much pollution can enter a waterway before it becomes unsafe.
Eleven years after the state had been directed to create these standards, nutrient pollution, algal blooms and fish kills were worsening and Florida still had no numeric standards. So several environmental groups represented by Earthjustice petitioned the EPA, asking them to step in to set a deadline for the state to comply. In August 2009, the EPA required the state to adopt numeric standards, or the EPA would do so itself to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act.
The state did not act in the established timeframe, so EPA set nutrient pollution limits for most of Florida's freshwaters, giving additional time for the state to set them for the remaining waters. The state responded with legal opposition to EPA's standards and the requirement to implement them. It claimed that numeric criteria, such as proposed by EPA would be too expensive and were not necessary to protect Florida's waters, despite the strong evidence to the contrary. Subsequently, the state administrative law judge ruled in EPA's favor by agreeing that numeric standards, similar to EPA's proposed criteria, are required by the Clean Water Act.
After this ruling, the state finally issued its own water quality standards that either maintained the current completely ineffective narrative standards or set numeric standards that were worse than none at all - requiring that a water body be confirmed as a "biological failure" before limiting pollution. This undermines the entire purpose of water quality standards: to prevent harmful algae blooms and fish kills from happening in the first place. The state's inadequate standards are currently being challenged by the environmental groups while the state and polluting interests attempt to get them implemented before EPA's more effective standards take effect.
Cost is always an issue. EPA has estimated the costs associated with implementing the federal standards to be $135million-$206 million. Florida state lobbyists have inflated those costs to $298 million- $4.7 billion based on worst case scenario assumptions. An EPA Science Advisory Board recently supported the need for numeric criteria for nutrients, determining that the true costs to implement them would be somewhere between the EPA's and the lobbyist's estimates. Moreover, the SAB felt that when the waters of the state are studied more closely, additional waters will be found to be polluted and thus require more cleanup.
In the next few months, the EPA should propose marine and estuarine nutrient standards and implement its previously proposed freshwater criteria. If EPA is prevented by the state from creating effective and protective numeric criteria and we continue with our current narrative nutrient pollution standards, Floridians stand to lose our tourism-based economy and quality of life. Algae blooms will continue to grow to dangerous levels, threatening to create unsightly beaches and causing a public health and safety threat.
The old adage - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - is so true when dealing with water quality, where costs to fix water quality problems after-the-fact are always much higher than those for prevention. Additionally, the state standards require taxpayers to foot the entire water quality bill while the federal standards would require the polluting industries and taxpayers to share the costs. Which is fairer and more cost effective to taxpayers? Florida has a polluter pays law, but it not being enforced.
And so we are at the crossroads. Will Florida lose its tourism industry? And who will pay for the changes and cleanup required to support the superb water quality we want and need?
Hushon is a director of the Rookery Bay Foundation and a volunteer naturalist on the Good Fortune II tour boat operated by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. She worked as an environmental consultant for over 40 years with clients including industry as well as U.S. and foreign governments.
© 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group - Online
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Seeking Summer Teacher to Assist Loxahatchee Refuge
Training Dates:Monday, June 11 - Thursday, June 14
Program Dates: Monday, July 2 - Friday, August 10
Duration: 6 weeks, Monday - Friday, plus initial 4-day training
Salary: $1,500 ($250/week) (training is unpaid)
Deadline to Apply: Friday, May 25
The Summer Teachers Assisting Refuges (STAR) program provides opportunities for teachers to connect to the resources in a National Wildlife Refuge. Teachers then develop lesson plans based on their Refuge experience for use in the classroom and natural resource areas. The program focuses on teachers from schools with diverse student populations, who have had little or no experience with National Wildlife Refuges or limited opportunity to explore the relevance Refuges can have in their lives and the lives of their students.Our Refuge is piloting the first STAR program this summer.
For more information:
http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com/upload/LoxSTARDescription.pdf
The STAR program is sponsored by the Friends and made possible by the Harvey Eisen Education and Training Fund, established by friends and family of long-time volunteer and Board member Harvey Eisen.
If you would like to help replenish this fund and help train future teachers, you can mail your contribution to
: Friends of Loxahatchee, 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33473 Att: Steve Horowitz/Training Fund.
You can also donate online at:
http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com/contributions.shtml |
 | Happy Hour at the OK Slough Preserve
Mark Renz photo art
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 | If I only had half the turtle's sense of direction...
Mark Renz phot art
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Grant funds sea turtle education at 'Ding'
A grant for $18,350 from the Sea Turtle Conservancy makes it possible for J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge to purchase educational materials that will teach children and visitors of all ages about protecting endangered sea turtles that nest on Sanibel and Captiva islands.
"Ding" Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) applied for the grant, which will purchase sea turtle replicas for the "Ding" Darling Education Lab and fund brochures and sea turtle activity booklets for children. Conservancy grants are funded by the sales of Florida's sea turtle specialty license plates.
"We hope to educate the public about the significance of various sea turtle species to
the ecosystem and the importance of avoiding sea turtle nests on the beach," said Birgie Vertesch, DDWS executive director. "We plan to have the printed materials ready in time for this year's nesting season. We will distribute the brochures in local hotels and resorts, as well as at the refuge."
Life-sized sea turtle replicas of a loggerhead hatchling and adult, and a Kemps Ridley adult will allow school classes that visit the refuge an opportunity for hands-on familiarity with the species, with the intention of triggering a spirit of protectiveness and stewardship. Grant monies will also purchase a cross-section of a loggerhead sea turtle nest.
"These are important teaching tools for the next generation of conservationists," said Vertesch. "We thank the Sea Turtle Conservancy for partnering with us in our local efforts."
"Each year, Florida drivers voluntarily fund sea turtle conservation with their purchase of a sea turtle specialty license plate," said Rocio Johnson, marketing coordinator for the Sea Turtle Grants Program. "This financial support is vital to sea turtle research, education, and conservation programs like that of the 'Ding' Darling Wildlife Society."
For more information on supporting educational and research projects such as the sea turtle initiative at "Ding" Darling Refuge, please visit www.dingdarlingsociety.org.
As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, DDWS works to support J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge's mission of conservation, wildlife and habitat protection, research, and public education through charitable donations and Refuge Nature Shop proceeds.
To support DDWS and the refuge with a tax-deductible gift, visit www.dingdarlingsociety.org
or contact Birgie Vertesch at 239-292-0566 or director@dingdarlingsociety.org.
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Beach, on 3-2 Vote, Bans Night Bonfires During Turtle Season
- FlaglerLive.com
The Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday evening voted 3-2 to ban bonfires on the city's beaches during turtle nesting season, from May 1 to Oct. 31, the culmination of an often bitter debate that has fractured the city commission and divided residents.But Thursday's vote, at first blush a victory for Commissioner Kim Carney-whose persistence made the vote possible-is far from the last word as Mayor Linda Provencher may veto the measure should it pass the commission again on second reading, in two weeks... Read Entire Article Here
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March, 2001 Volume LXXV, No. 3
Alligators and Litigators: A Recent History of Everglades Regulation and Litigation
by Keith W. Rizzardi
To many Florida lawyers, litigation in the Everglades seems as old as the Everglades itself. Its history can be traced back to the 1800s when Hamilton Disston and Henry Flagler were draining, dredging, and filling Florida's land while fighting in the courts with shareholders, speculators, and state land administrators.1 The modern history of litigation in the Everglades is dominated by agricultural interests, environmental interest groups, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, and state and federal agencies. Along the way, important precedents have been created, affecting the Everglades as well as Florida administrative and environmental law in general.
U.S. vs. South Florida Water Management District
The recent history of Everglades litigation really begins in 1988, when the federal government, through then acting U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen, sued the South Florida Water Management District and the then Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (DER), now known as the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The lawsuit alleged violations of state water quality standards, particularly phosphorus, in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park.2
Numerous agricultural groups, including the Florida Sugar Cane League, sought to intervene in the federal suit against the water management district. The trial court initially denied intervention but was overturned by the appellate court, which ruled that the farmers had the right to participate in proceedings that would translate the local water quality standards from existing narrative standards to more specific numeric criteria.3
With litigation continuing to expand, Governor Lawton Chiles walked into the federal courthouse in Miami on May 21, 1991, and announced that the State of Florida was prepared to put an end to the litigation:
I came here today convinced that continuing the litigation does little to solve the problems or restore the Everglades. I am more convinced than ever of that . . . . We talked about water in the glass . . . . I am ready to stipulate today that water is dirty. I think that is [what this is] about, Your Honor, is how do we get clean water? What is the fastest way to do that? I am here and I brought my sword. I want to find out who I can give that sword to and I want to be able to give that sword up and have our troops start the reparation, the clean up . . . . We want to surrender. We want to plead that the water is dirty. We want the water to be clean, and the question is how can we get it the quickest.4.....
Gov. Scott unveils his version of Everglades restoration; reaction mixed
New Everglades cleanup could cost $880 million .
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The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) (5 U.S.C. § 504; 28 U.S.C. § 2412) provides for the award of attorney fees and other expenses to eligible individuals and small entities that are parties to litigation against the government. An eligible party may receive an award when it prevails over the government, unless the government's position was "substantially justified" or special circumstances make an award unjust. To recover under EAJA, a claimant must show that it is a "prevailing party." Parties are considered to be prevailing parties when they have been successful on any significant issue in litigation that achieves some of the benefit the parties sought. A party must also show that the lawsuit was a material factor in bringing about the desired result and the outcome was required by law and was not a gratuitous act by the government. Finally, whether a party is a small entity for purposes of EAJA is determined by a unique size standard included in the act. Compliance with the size standard is a threshold requirement for an award of fees under the act.
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As the House tees up its next votes on government spending for fiscal 2013, Democrats and greens are bracing for a punishing hit to U.S. EPA and the Interior Department before Republicans likely ultimately accede to the higher funding cap that carries bipartisan support in the Senate.
The fatalism that shrouds the House appropriations process crept into the open yesterday as Republicans pushed through a plan to replace $55 billion in projected Pentagon cuts set to take effect in January with slashes to domestic programs -- the same pot of spending in line for its own $55 billion cut come 2013.
Under the levels dictated by House leaders, the Republican in charge of EPA and Interior Department appropriations must keep his bill $1.2 billion below the levels that both parties agreed to in December's omnibus spending deal. But Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) yesterday described the practical effect of the cut as closer to $2 billion, given the need to cover spending elsewhere. That means several Interior and EPA programs and offices could see additional belt-tightening, Simpson said.
House Appropriations ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) have both worried about the GOP strategy of adequately funding early appropriations bills, saying it means bills later in the process -- likely including Interior-EPA -- would suffer.
Hoyer predicted this week that Republicans would advance "noncontroversial bills first," with enough funding that "they are not going to have enough left over" under their lower cap to adequately address more politically charged agencies.
"What appears to be happening is, the early appropriations bills are borrowing money from the later appropriations bills," Natural Resources Defense Council Legislative Director Scott Slesinger said in an interview.
Contrasted with a Senate-side Interior-EPA spending cap that adds $400 million to the current fiscal year's levels, the House vision promises austerity at EPA almost as acute as the $1.5 billion cut that Republicans proposed in their initial Interior-EPA spending bill last year.
That measure was pulled from the floor in the dog days of summer as congressional leaders neared a bipartisan accord with the White House on raising the debt ceiling and setting a $1.047 trillion discretionary spending limit for fiscal 2013. But after the House GOP slashed below that cap this year, seeking $19 billion in more cuts, President Obama's party and its green allies can do little but shrug at a strategy already running aground in the Senate.
Ultimately, Slesinger predicted, "the House and Senate will agree to" the spending numbers set by last year's debt deal, effectively leaving Interior and EPA with $400 million more to work with than they have this year.
All but two Senate Republican appropriators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), voted for the higher cap last month. Also among that group was Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who declined to embrace the House GOP spending levels yesterday.
"There's a strong bipartisan majority that's working to reduce spending in line with the Budget Control Act," Hoeven said in an interview taped for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers," using the formal name for the August debt agreement.
"The good news is that Republican senators ... essentially endorsed the level agreed to in the BCA," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the Budget Committee's top Democrat, said in an interview.
Asked if the EPA could see its funding crunched by the House after other priorities are addressed first, Van Hollen said: "We have to keep an eye on all those issues."
Even traditionally unobjectionable spending bills could languish without House floor votes given the shortage of time to address them before the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), in charge of the Transportation Department's appropriations, simply laughed this week when asked about his bill's time frame for consideration.
Simpson predicted yesterday that either the Energy Department and Army Corps of Engineers spending bill for fiscal 2013 or the homeland security spending measure could be next in line for a House floor vote. And Simpson acknowledged that his bill would "never get to the floor" because of the dwindling window for floor time.
"The reality is, the calendar just doesn't work in our favor that way," Simpson said (E&ENews PM, May 10).
Reporters Jason Plautz and Phil Taylor contributed.
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Approved Budge Reflects State Directives
The FY2012 budget of $576.1 million
reflects Governor and Legislative direction
to all water management districts to focus
on core responsibilities, improve efficiency
and reduce the tax burden on Florida
property owners.
The 2011 Florida Legislature appropriated $26 million to help
keep Everglades progress on track. By utilizing those state funds
and other sources, the approved budget dedicates more than
70 percent of agency revenues to benefit restoration, protect
South Florida's resources and enhance flood control operations
.
Key expenditures include:
_ $50 million for refurbishment of the regional flood control network of
2,600 miles of canals and levees.
_ $10.3 million to complete construction of stormwater treatment
areas to further improve the quality of water flowing into the
Everglades. Since 2006, the District has invested more than $270
million to expand the state's 45,000-acre network of treatment
wetlands south of Lake Okeechobee by an additional 13,500 acres.
_ $38 million to initiate pump construction that will deliver water to
help restore the Loxahatchee River and enhance water supplies.
_ $14.3 million to provide water retention/storage in the northern
Everglades through public-private partnerships.
_ $3.7 million to complete construction of the $35.8 million Lakeside
Ranch Stormwater Treatment Area that will clean water flowing into
Lake Okeechobee.
_ $930,000 to substantially complete construction of the C-111
Spreader Canal and the first phase of the Biscayne Bay Coastal
Wetlands project. The District has invested close to $36.5 million to
complete construction of these restoration projects that will benefit
Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay and the Everglades.
_ $2 million to begin water quality treatment and storage projects in
the Caloosahatchee watershed. |
Just 10 years ago, mentioning the word conservation during a fishing conversation either cleared the room or put everyone to sleep. . Not anymore.
Florida's inshore anglers are at the cusp of a culture shift, and not a moment too soon. Increased fishing pressure, dwindling functional habitat, and other derogatory influences have taken their toll on our most prized fish species.
Many anglers have a very grim outlook for the future of fishing. Indeed, discussions of fishery conservation now frequently stir very emotional debates. |
 | Priceless but free
Mark Renz photo art
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Florida Native Plant Society annual conference
John R. Trinkle Center,
Hillsborough Community College Plant City Campus,
Plant City, Florida
May 17-20, 2012.
The Research Track of the Conference will include presented papers on Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19. Posters will be on display on Friday and Saturday and the poster session will be on Saturday afternoon.
The Florida Native Plant Society maintains an Endowment Research Grant program for the purpose of funding research on native plants. These are small grants ($1500 or less), awarded for a 1-year period, and intended to support research that forwards the mission of the Florida Native Plant Society which is "to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida."
FNPS Conservation Grants support applied native plant conservation projects in Florida. These are small grants ($1500 or less) awarded for a 1-year period. Examples of projects that this grant supports are on-the-ground native plant community restoration, land acquisition, and habitat enhancement. To qualify for a Conservation Grant, the proposed project must be sponsored by an FNPS Chapter.
Application deadline for the 2012 Awards is March 2, 2012. Awards will be announced at the May 2012 Annual Conference in Plant City. Awardees do not have to be present at the Conference to receive award.
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- Bioenergy Articles from The Bioenergy Site
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Caloosahatchee Riverwatch New News
Advisory - Caloosahatchee River Exposure
The Lee, Hendry & Glades County Health Departments have issued an advisory to warn people against exposing themselves, their pets or their livestock to the waters in the Caloosahatchee River.
This advisory applies to the river's freshwater segments from the Moore Haven Locks extending westward through LaBelle to the Lee County Line, as well as the river's tributaries because of possible sporadic but potentially harmful algae blooms.
If the river waters look greenish, off-color, smells different or if you see dead or distressed animals or marine life, local health officials are recommending folks not to fish in the waters, not to participate in recreation in the waters and do not to drink the water.
Algae may grow in lakes, canals and rivers throughout the region for the foreseeable future and tracking all of them is impractical.
Local health officials may upgrade this advisory to a health warning if toxic blooms are identified in public areas.
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Big Carlos Pass filling in with sand Big Carlos Pass filling in with sand
LEE COUNTY -
Big Carlos Pass runs between Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach
. And that's where Captain Bob Goring's tour boat ran aground.
"I was absolutely shocked that it happened on that particular night," he said.
Environmental consultant Joanne Semmer says three years ago - in that same spot - that may not have happened.
"It's getting shallower and the sand bars are growing and the entrance is closing in," she explained.
Part of Lover's Key State Park wasn't even there 60 years ago, but beach renourishment up north, tides and storms pushed so much sand south that part of the pass can get as shallow as 1.5-feet deep.
"We want to encourage boats to come in, and we need the pass open for that to happen," Semmer said.
Boat traffic drives the local economy. So to stay afloat, Semmer is joining nearly 40 others who want the pass dredged.
And John Department of Environmental Protection, who would have to permit the work, sees another benefit.
"If the sand is compatible with the beach sand then it could be used for a beach nourishment project upstream or downstream," said Jon Iglehart, with the DEP.
Local governments would have to get on board and find funding, likely through grants, before dredging could begin.....
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 | "Grace" according to Merriam Webster
Swallowtail Kite -- Mark Renz photo art
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