Environmental Intersection by George Lindemann

"Suit to force #Everglades cleansing appears near resolution" in @PBPost

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 9:07 p.m. Monday, June 4, 2012

WEST PALM BEACH — A proposed settlement to a 24-year-old lawsuit that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in failed efforts to restore the Everglades was unveiled on Monday after months of private negotiations.

Melissa Meeker, the Executive Director of the South Florida Water Management District, said the draft settlement calls for an $880 million series of projects to filter out nutrient contamination and increase water flow. The projects come in addition to the more than $2 billion the district has already spent on land and other construction projects -- including $300 million spent on a reservoir before scrapping the project.

According to Meeker, the proposed settlement calls for adding two stormwater treatment areas and flow-equalization basins, which would ensure a constant flow of water to the stormwater treatment areas. The district currently manages five such treatment areas, man-made wetlands that use plants to cleanse water headed to the Everglades.

The proposed settlement sets the completion date for Everglades restoration at 2025.

"We're trying to move forward to some closure with this plan," said Governing Board Chairman Joe Collins. "I for one would rather see us spending money on construction than lawyers."

The settlement proposal contains time lines that will be enforced by incorporating them in district regulations, Meeker said.

The lawsuit that spawned the epic lawsuit began in 1988, when the federal government sued the water district and other state agencies for failing to enforce water quality standards in the Everglades.

In 1992 a federal judge approved a settlement agreement, called a consent decree, in which the District agreed to build stormwater treatment areas and meet water quality standards by 2002. When the district was unable to meet that deadline, others were set and missed. Nutrient levels in certain areas continued to exceed maximum limits -- driving the lawsuit on.

Most recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set a deadline of June 6 for Florida to submit permits on behalf of the district to ensure that water quality standards are met in the five stormwater treatment areas the district currently operates. Officials of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection say that deadline will be met.

At a special meeting of the governing board on Monday, Meeker she wanted to the board to hear details about the proposed settlement from her rather than read them in the paper.

However, David Guest, attorney for EarthJustice, which represents environmental groups in the lawsuit, was guarded about his opinion of the draft settlement.

But Guest did say he was not aware that Meeker was going public with the settlement proposal on Monday. In fact, Guest -- who has been involved in the lawsuit since it was filed in 1988 -- said he was not certain that the settlement had been finalized by all parties.

"What worries me is, what the state is doing doesn't feel like collaboration," Guest said after learning of Monday's meeting.

In her 30-minute presentation, Meeker explained that the district would use some of the land it purchased from U.S. Sugar in 2010 and more than 2,000 acres of Mecca Farms that the District hopes to acquire in a land swap with the county.

The plan would also put to use two reservoirs: the L-8 Reservoir, a 15 billion gallon reservoir with a $217 million pricetag and water unfit for drinking; and the A1 Reservoir, which the district stopped building after spending $300 million.

As for money, Meeker said the district has $220 million set aside in reserves and would rely on money raised through property taxes and state appropriations for the remainder.

Despite the optimism at Monday's board meeting, the proposed settlement faces many hurdles. It must be approved by the EPA, the district's Governing Board, a federal judge and environmental groups.

christine_stapleton@pbpost.com

"Florida unveils new #Everglades restoration plan" in @sunsentinel

$1.5 billion proposal aims to clean up water pollution

June 5, 2012|By Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel

A new Everglades restoration deal disclosed Monday proposes to clean up water pollution and resolve decades of federal legal fights, with a more than $1.5 billion public price tag.

The plan that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Monday forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeks to correct Florida's failure to meet water-quality standards in stormwater that flows to the Everglades.

Building new water storage and treatment areas along with other improvements over more than a decade could cost about $880 million, according to the South Florida Water Management District, which leads Everglades restoration for the state.

The full cost also includes about $700 million the district already spent on farmland and unfinished reservoirs from past sidetracked Everglades restoration projects.

If endorsed by the federal government and the courts, the deal could resolve more than 20 years of legal fights and revamp stymied Everglades restoration efforts.

"This is a very solid plan. It is scientifically based and it's affordable," said Joe Collins, chairman of the water management district board. "We certainly are committed to protecting the Everglades."

The proposal includes stricter discharge limits for water treatment areas that send water to the Everglades, with plans by 2025 to meet overdue federal water quality standards that were supposed to take effect in 2006.

Audubon of Florida and the Everglades Foundation on Monday praised the proposal as a welcome sign of progress that could benefit the environment, tourism and drinking water supplies.

"The plan is clearly a major step forward," said Eric Draper, Audubon of Florida's executive director. "We are all going to benefit (from) this."

How to pay for the new plan remains a hurdle.

Florida has already invested about $1.8 billion building 57,000 acres of stormwater treatment areas to filter polluting phosphorous from water that flows off agricultural land and into the Everglades.

Big Sugar should be paying for more of the pollution clean up costs, not taxpayers, according to the environmental group Friends of the Everglades.

"We are skeptical," group representative Albert Slap said about the terms of the proposal disclosed Monday. "We consider it a step in the right direction (but) the problem is enforceability and funding."

The proposed deal is the result of months of negotiations started by Gov. Rick Scott, who in October flew to Washington, D.C., to push for a new restoration plan.

Without a deal, Florida faces the possibility of having to enact a plan proposed by the EPA and prompted by a federal judge that calls for adding more than 40,000 acres of additional stormwater treatment areas along with other enhancements the state estimates would cost $1.5 billion.

The new state proposal

includes more than 7,000 acres of expanded stormwater treatment areas — man-made marshes intended to filter phosphorus from stormwater that flows to the Everglades.

The deal calls for building a series of reservoirs near water treatment areas to hold onto more water that is now drained away for flood control and to better regulate its flow, so that the filter marshes can be effective.

The state's plan also calls for targeting pollution "hot spots," which would mean more pollution control requirements on pockets of farmland where fertilizer runoff and other agricultural practices boost phosphorus levels.

The plan would put to use some of the 26,800 acres the district in 2010 acquired from U.S. Sugar Corp. for $197 million. Old citrus groves in Hendry County would be turned into Everglades habitat, according to the proposal.

The new water storage areas in the plan would include making use of an unfinished 16,700-acre reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County. That stalled project already cost taxpayers about $280 million before the project was shelved while the district pursued the U.S. Sugar land deal.

Similarly, the proposal calls for redirecting the water in a $217 million rock-mine-turned-reservoir west of Royal Palm Beach to help improve Everglades water quality standards. That water was intended to go north for restoration efforts, but the district has yet to build the $60 million pumps needed to deliver the water to the Loxahatchee River.

The $880 million in new costs could come from $220 million the district has in reserves, $290 million projected from property tax revenue from expected new growth as well as money from the Legislature, according to the district.

The EPA has about a month to review the state's proposed permit changes for water quality standards. State officials face upcoming court hearings June 25 and July 2, where they are supposed to show progress in restoration efforts.

More details are needed to justify the potential cost, said Barbara Miedema, vice president of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.

"How much more money are we going to spend to get how much more benefit?" Miedema asked.

abreid@tribune.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews.com

"State moving forward with new Everglades restoration permit after talks with federal agencies"

Bruce Ritchie, 06/04/2012 - 06:47 PM

South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Melissa Meeker on Monday described a tentative agreement reached with state and federal officials for proceeding on a revised plan for Everglades restoration.

In October, Gov. Rick Scott met with federal officials in Washington to propose a revised state plan to reduce Everglades phosphorus pollution. Meeker said the plan, with new construction projects and revised pollution measures, has been developed based on an augmented plan developed in October.

"We are still working through the final points of the actual language," Meeker told her district's governing board on Monday.

The plan provides $880 million in new projects through 2025, Meeker said, in addition to some projects already under way. The district, she said, now has $220 million in the bank toward such projects.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in July 2008 ordered state and federal agencies to stop issuing permits for stormwater treatment areas. He ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review state water quality standards for the Everglades.

In 2010, the federal EPA said that clean water standards for phosphorus were not being achieved in all parts of the Everglades and that further reductions of phosphorus pollution are needed south of Lake Okeechobee. High levels of phosphorus can convert sawgrass savannahs into a swamp full of cattails with less wildlife habitat.

Since Scott met with federal officials in October, state and federal agencies have been working on a revised plan, Meeker said. They have developed a technical plan that includes water quality-based pollution limits, new filter marshes and holding ponds to improve water treatment, and an implementation schedule through 2025.

DEP spokeswoman Jennifer Diaz said the state is submitting a revised permit to the Environmental Protection Agency by Wednesday and that it would be posted soon after on the state agency's website.

Meeker said the $880 million in new projects include new "flow equalization basins" that capture and store water and release it later into stormwater treatment areas during dry periods.

She also said the plan assumes a contribution from taxpayers statewide and that the governor's representatives have met with legislative leaders to discuss it.

Meeker agreed with a board member's suggestion that the cost estimate was conservative with about one-third of the money now in the bank.

"In terms of the appropriations I think it is well within the means with what we have gotten in the past," she said. "There are no guarantees. It is the state Legislature."

But based on conversations the governor's office has had with legislative leaders, Meeker said, "they (legislators) felt the amount of money we were asking for was very reasonable and very doable."

Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Larry Lincoln commended the state for its hard work and said the federal agency will quickly review the submittal to determine whether it meets federal Clean Water Act requirements.

"The most important thing is for on-the-ground work to begin as soon as possible so we can begin work on these projects, which are vital to restoring water quality in the Everglades," Lincoln said.

Representatives of Audubon Florida and the Everglades Foundation spoke in support whileU.S. Sugar Corp. issued a statement in support. But Friends of the Everglades, which filed the lawsuit pending in Gold's court, said it was suspicious.

"Our fear is that the state once again has declined to impose enforceable remedies, adequate financing and best farming practices to sharply curtail phosphorous pollution of the Everglades as required by law," Friends of the Everglades President Alan Farago said.

Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said his group was glad to hear that the state and federal agencies are working together.

"The plan is clearly a major step forward with helping us get fresh water into the Everglades, which is what we need to do," Draper said.

"DEP committed to improving water quality" in Miami Herald Opinion Section.

Posted on Tue, May. 29, 2012
Drew Bartlett, director of DEP’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration.

The future of Florida’s environment and economy depend on the health of our waterways. That’s why one of the top priorities of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is getting Florida’s water right, in terms of quality and quantity. As part of our efforts, DEP is taking additional action to protect Florida’s water by improving our water quality standards and setting restoration goals.

Florida has always been a national leader in assessing and addressing the health of our waterways. Our efforts to advance environmental science account for 30 percent of the national water quality dataset, more than any other state in the nation.

We use this science to set standards for the amount of nutrients or contaminants that can exist in a healthy body of water. These water quality standards are important to protecting public health and the aquatic life in Florida’s waterbodies.

DEP is also launching an effort to adopt new, Florida-specific water quality standards to protect our citizens from eating contaminated fish and to protect our fish from harmful low dissolved oxygen conditions.

Florida’s current standards are based on science created more than 30 years ago. As you can imagine, our scientific knowledge has advanced greatly since then. Better data about our waters are available, and the ways we protect water quality have changed. We intend to move forward with these new standards by using updated, Florida-specific research.

Along these same lines, DEP is taking action to establish a mercury reduction goal (known as a TMDL) to address levels of mercury found in some Florida fish. When adopted, this will be the nation’s first mercury TMDL that addresses both freshwater and marine fish on a statewide basis.

DEP is committed to using new information and science to improve the way we protect public health and aquatic life into the future. Public involvement will be vital as we move forward with our rules through an open and transparent rulemaking process.

We recently held the first round of rule development workshops and are grateful to those who participated. There will be another opportunity for public participation during the second round of workshops, which we plan to hold in July.

I encourage Floridians to learn more about these rules and efforts to protect water quality by visiting www.dep.state.fl.us. We can all play a role in getting Florida’s water right.

© 2012 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

"Six months after sewage spill: Hollywood residents skeptical about canal's recovery"

By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel

6:13 PM EDT, May 28, 2012

HOLLYWOOD

Six months after a disastrous sewer-main rupture dumped tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the C-10 canal, city officials say the waterway has rebounded remarkably. City residents say not so much.

"The amount of fish in the water is almost nonexistent," said Dale Miller, who lives in the 2700 block of Scott Street. "We're seeing some minnows coming back, which is good, but we would see snook and mullet and oscars, and they're not there anymore."

The city has spent $938,000 on clean-up and repairs since the Nov. 16 catastrophe contaminated the canal and inundated the residential neighborhood south of Taft Street with rancid spillage and mucky sludge.

Monthly water tests and the return of wildlife indicate a healthy ecosystem, city officials say.

But residents whose backyards overlook the canal say wildlife has been drastically depleted. Manatee sightings, which used to be common, are few and far between. Yet to return are the snook, tarpon, bass and mullet. And swimming is no longer a carefree option.

"[State environmental officials] told us that really within a relatively short amount of time the canal would bounce back, and that is certainly what we've seen," city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said. "Literally, within weeks we saw manatees in the canal, we saw wildlife returning to the canal, we saw birds in the canal, we saw fish in the canal, and so we know that the water quality in the canal has rebounded."

Monthly water-quality test results "indicate no impact in the overall water quality as a result of the spill," Storey said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is still determining how much it will fine the city for re-routing the sewage into the canal, spokeswoman Cristina Llorens said.

"We had a great little oasis of nature here and it just hasn't been the same," said Michael Medlin, of the 1300 block of North 30th Court. "Hundreds and hundreds of fish were living under my dock, they all died off and have only been replaced by minnows, and I've seen a fraction of the number of manatees that we used to see on a regular basis."

For nearly three days raw sewage spilled into the middle of Taft Street after a 48-inch sewer main ruptured in the middle of the busy east-west thoroughfare.

The pipe ruptured after construction workers held back flows overnight while connecting a new sewer line into the Taft Street pipe, which normally transfers 10 million to 15 million gallons of untreated sewage a day to the Southern Regional Wastewater Treatment plant at the east end of Taft Street.

"The work was not able to be completed in the overnight hours as they anticipated and they were late in opening the line, so when all the morning flows started there was a tremendous amount of pressure in the line and then we had the rupture," Storey said.

City officials say the city had no choice but to divert the sewage into the canal to prevent flooding in the homes on North 31st Road.

In a Feb. 14 memo to city commissioners, Assistant City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark suggested holding the contractor, GlobeTec Construction LLC, responsible.

"The city took the stance of remediating as quickly as possible with the intentions of filing claims against the contractor's insurance," she wrote. "The City Attorney's Office is fully prepared to file suit should that course of action become necessary."

The city now is awaiting the results of a claim GlobeTec has submitted to its insurance company, Storey said. GlobeTec did not respond to two telephone message left at its Deerfield Beach office.

The city now is about midway through an estimated two-month project to strengthen the ruptured pipe. By inserting 1,300 feet of lining into the pipe, the city hopes to safeguard against any future breaks in other sections of the pipe that may have been weakened when pressure built up before the rupture.

While the work is under way, drivers should expect intermittent lane closures and narrowed lanes when traveling on Taft Street from the railroad tracks west of Interstate 95 to North 31st Road. The project should be completed in July, Storey said.

In the aftermath of the spill, the city hired a contractor to clean the canal and the yards of two dozen flooded homes. The contractor pressure-washed lawns, fences, driveways and sidewalks with disinfectant. They scrubbed and tested the water as required by the state DEP and took soil samples. They installed nine aerating pumps along the canal to pump oxygen to the bottom of the water and speed up the breakdown of fecal matter.

So far, the costs tally up to $938,000, including hotel rooms for displaced residents, clean up of the pool at the YMCA, canal remediation and aeration, and pipeline and street repairs.

"It's a terrible environmental disaster that never should have happened, but once it did, the city's response was quick … I give them credit," said Medlin, of North 30th Court. "Nevertheless, when the canal was like the most important factor in choosing to purchase this home, and feeling like something really important and special had been taken from you, it's a bit disconcerting."

Steve Shepard, of the 2600 block of Scott Street, continues to view the canal with suspicion. He wishes the city would have done more to cleanse the sediment on the bottom of the canal.

Although he's noticed blue crab and shrimp life emerging, he's troubled by the absence of snook and tarpon and he no longer allows his three children and golden retriever to swim in the water, he said.

"We're not going to touch the canal at all," Shepard said. "Pissed off, that's the best word I can use to express my emotion. I feel slighted. I couldn't believe a word that came out of anyone's mouth and the proof is in the water."

tealanez@tribune.com or 954-356-4542

Cost breakdown

Hollywood so far has spent $938,000 related to the sewer-main rupture. Here's the break down of approximate costs:

Impacted homeowners along North 31^s^t Road (includes hotels, per diem, sod removal and replacement of sheds and contents):$24,000

Greater Hollywood YMCA Center:$115,000

Federation Plaza:$600

Rotary Park:$43,000

Land and Canal Remediation:$422,000

Canal Aeration:$100,000

Consultant:$17,000

Police and PRCA Overtime:$25,000

Force Main and Street Repair:$193,000

sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-hollywood-canal-recovery-20120527,0,3629945.story

Environmentalists battle DEP, industries on two fronts

Bruce Ritchie, 05/24/2012 - 05:38 PM

Environmentalists said Thursday they will ask the Florida Supreme Court to require the governor and Cabinet to decide on a plan for a pollution pipeline into the St. Johns River approved by the state.

Also Thursday, the Earthjustice law firm and the Florida Wildlife Federation, which are fighting proposed state pollution rules, said an algae bloom on the Santa Fe River demonstrates the need for tougher federal rules instead of the state rules.

The actions represent separate fights between environmental groups and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection along with industry groups over water quality.

The Clean Water Network of Florida and its allies continue to fight DEP and the pulp and paper industry over its proposals to build pollution pipelines. DEP in 1994 issued an order toGeorgia-Pacific to make water quality improvements and to construct a four-mile pipeline to move the discharge at its Palatka plant from Rice Creek to the St. Johns River.

A draft petition states that by allowing "mixing zones" for pollution from the pipeline, DEP is allowing for the "private use" of submerged state lands without approval by the Cabinet, which has responsibility in the state Constitution to approve those uses and require compensation.

Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman Trish Bowles said the company had received a submerged lands lease easement from the governor and Cabinet in 2003 for the pipeline and that a separate mixing zone easement is not required. She said the company has spent $200 million on water quality improvements at the plant since 2002.

A DEP spokeswoman said the department is still reviewing the petition but she pointed out that mixing zones are a part of state water quality standards and are kept to the smallest size possible while maintaining designated waterway uses.

On Thursday, Earthjustice and the Florida Wildlife Federation highlighted Gainesville Suncoverage of the Santa Fe River, where health officials have advised people not to swim, consume fish or drink water near an algae bloom although it hasn't been classified as toxic.

“This is heartbreaking for people and for wildlife,” Florida Wildlife Federation President Manley Fuller said in a news release. “It’s a full-blown crisis like we’ve never seen before on the beautiful Santa Fe River.”

Earthjustice represents the federation and other groups that filed a legal challenge to block proposed state water quality rules, called numeric nutrient criteria. The state rules are proposed to replace federal water quality rules that are being rewritten after a federal judge earlier this year found them to be "arbitrary and capricious."

Industry groups favor the proposed state rules that DEP says are more flexible and will cost less for industries and utilities to comply with while protecting water quality. Environmental groups say the proposed state rules are weak and will result in continued increases in nitrogen that feeds the algae choking springs and other waterways.

Ryan Banfill, a spokesman for a coalition of industry groups, cities and counties that have opposed the federal rules, said it's hard to understand how the environmentalists who are opposing the state rules are complaining about foot-dragging on pollution.

Reporter Bruce Ritchie can be reached at britchie@thefloridacurrent.com.

"Deep dredging of Miami’s port gets final environmental OK" in @miamiherald

Posted on Fri, May. 25, 2012

By CHARLES RABIN

crabin@MiamiHerald.com

A month after reaching a legal settlement that cleared the way for the controversial $2 billion PortMiami expansion plan, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a permit that will allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge and deepen in and around Government Cut by up to 50 feet.

The project will be put out for bids this summer, with construction expected to begin in early 2013.

Port expansion advocates argue the deeper depth will allow PortMiami to be more competitive by accommodating larger vessels that are expected to make use of the new and wider Panama Canal when that project is completed some time next year.

Dredgers will follow protocols set by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which means all hard coral colonies greater than 25 centimeters and up to 1,300 hard coral colonies between 10 and 25 centimeters will be relocated, 16.6 acres of new sea grass beds will be created, and more than nine acres of artificial reef will be built.

Last month, environmentalists who had spent two years arguing that blasting and digging in the port’s main channel would leave Biscayne Bay scarred, agreed to drop an administrative challenge after Miami-Dade County said it would spend $2.3 million on restoration and to monitor the project.

"The goal: more water conservation" - Opinion Letter in Miami Herald

Audubon Florida was happy to see the May 13 article South Florida cuts water use by 20 percent, on the success of South Florida’s water-conservation methods. Our region has made progress. But if South Floridians want water security in the future, more must be done through meaningful water conservation.

Does it make sense to build a multimillion dollar treatment plant or just ask residents to save water? Cooper City asked this question a few years ago and decided that water conservation was the answer. Today, the city has doubled its water conservation goal and saved $12 million in the process.

As the South Florida Water Management District updates the long-term water plan, conservation needs to be a top priority. Every county in our region should limit landscape irrigation to at least two days a week like Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

South Floridians each use an average of 140 gallons a day, and up to half of that amount is for outdoor irrigation. Local and state agencies should implement better leak detection programs so utilities, as they have reported, do not lose tens of millions of gallons of water. And, as one of the largest consumers of water — with an estimated demand of 604 million gallons a day — agricultural businesses in our region need to work to find better ways to conserve water, especially during droughts.

Conserving water today is securing water for tomorrow.

Jane Graham, Everglades policy associate, Audubon Florida, Miami

"Don’t abandon the environment" in @miamiherald Opinion Section

Miami-Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resource Management — vital to the region’s natural resources, but reviled by some residents who consider it heavy-handed — already is a shadow of its former self. Now it looks like the county commission is poised to finish it off in the name of streamlining the county’s construction-permitting process and economic development.
That would be a mistake, putting the long-term environmental well-being of this community in danger. Environmental protection is not antithetical to either of those goals, and commissioners should seek balance when the issue comes up for discussion, scheduled for their Tuesday meeting.

County Mayor Carlos Gimenez last year combined the functions of the environmental, planning and zoning departments. It was part of his campaign promise to streamline county operations at a savings to tax-stressed residents. His idea of a “one-stop shop” for permitting functions makes a lot of sense. As he said: “You have to jump through 17 hoops for somebody to replace a sea wall.”

Now, in his pursuit of another overhaul, he and the commission must make sure that taxpayers ultimately don’t bear the high costs of a tainted, damaged environment. In many ways, it’s our bread and butter, drawing tourists, providing recreation and, yes, creating economic development. Compare the parks and condos that have come to line Biscayne Bay decades after it was cleaned of icky things that repelled rather than attracted water activities.

More important, this community is sitting on top of its water supply, a fragile resource that is under threat of contamination, along with the Everglades, which must be protected from further degradation.

Mr. Gimenez’s vision is to fold what remains of DERM into a new Regulatory and Economic Resources Department. DERM was responsible for enforcing a broad range of county, state and federal laws. But notice how “environment” is not even in the new department’s name. That’s worrisome, despite the mayor’s protestations that the environment — the air we breath, the water we drink, the landscapes and vistas we enjoy — remains a priority.

Apparently taking their cues from the state, which foolishly took a sledgehammer to its growth-management laws, some commissioners, too, seem ready to dismantle the policies that have stood between smart growth and a development free-for-all. One proposal would let small farmers fill wetlands without permits. This means that residents who have staked a claim in the 81/2-Square-Mile Area in west Miami-Dade could build in areas that, along with underground aquifers, provide the water the community relies on. Of course, these residents have waged a pitched battle with DERM — vilifying its inspectors and its fines — for almost two decades. But allowing building in designated wetlands would be a short-sighted sop to a very small group of disgruntled people, to the detriment of the rest of us.

Mr. Gimenez, however, is right to want to streamline the county’s construction-permitting process. It has been an impediment to getting businesses up and running and letting homeowners make necessary repairs and move on.

Still, replacing a sea wall remains a lot easier than replacing coral reefs and drinking water and wetlands. It was DERM’s responsibility to protect them all. And the mayor and commission must ensure that this responsibility does not disappear when the department does.

via miamiherald.com

Water Wars..."Fracking bidders top farmers at water auction"

Posted: 04/02/2012 04:31:47 AM MDT

By BRUCE FINLEY The Denver Postdenverpost.com

DENVER—Front Range farmers bidding for water to grow crops through the coming hot summer and possible drought face new competition from oil and gas drillers.

At Colorado's premier auction for unallocated water this spring, companies that provide water for hydraulic fracturing at well sites were top bidders on supplies once claimed exclusively by farmers.

The prospect of tussling with energy industry giants over water leaves some farmers and environmentalists uneasy.

"What impact to our environment and our agricultural heritage are Coloradans willing to stomach for drilling and fracking?" said Gary Wockner, director of the Save the Poudre Coalition, devoted to protecting the Cache la Poudre River.

"Farm water grows crops, but it also often supports wildlife, wetlands and stream flows back to our rivers. Most drilling and fracking water is lost from the hydrological cycle forever," Wockner said. "Any transfer of water from rivers and farms to drilling and fracking will negatively impact Colorado's environment and wildlife."

The Northern Water Conservancy District runs the auction, offering excess water diverted from the Colorado River Basin—25,000 acre-feet so far this year—and conveyed through a 13-mile tunnel under the Continental Divide.

A growing portion of that water now will be pumped thousands of feet underground at well sites to coax out oil and gas.

State officials charged with promoting and regulating the energy industry estimated that fracking required about 13,900 acre-feet in 2010. That's a small share of the total water consumed in Colorado, about 0.08 percent. However, this fast-growing share already exceeds the amount that the ski industry draws from mountain rivers for making artificial snow. Each oil or gas well drilled requires 500,000 to 5 million gallons of water.

A Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission report projected water needs for fracking will increase to 18,700 acre-feet a year by 2015.

Farmers who go to the auctions seeking to produce food—or maybe plant more acres—are on equal footing with companies seeking water for fracking, Northern Water spokesman Brian Werner said.

"If you have a beneficial use for the water, then you can bid for that water," Werner said. "We see the beneficial use of the water as a positive for the economy of the whole region. Fracking is one of those uses. Our uses of water have evolved over 150 years."

Riding his tractor last week, Colorado hay producer Lar Voss, who bid for water at the recent auction, accepted this approach. Voss bid for 100 acre-feet "to be sure I've got enough for the crops," he said. Selling water to those who can pay the most "is what ought to happen."

But farming advocacy groups raise concerns.

"How do we continue to sustain agriculture when there's just more and more demand on our water resources in this state?" said Bill Midcap, director of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, which represents 22,000 producers in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

"The governor has said agriculture is helping Colorado come out of this recession. How do we keep those dollars flowing from agriculture into the state economy with more and more stress on our resources—such as water?"

Energy industry players "carry a big stick" at auctions and likely have the money to prevail in a free-market competition for scarce water, Midcap said.

At the recent auction, Fort Lupton-based A & W Water Service Inc. bid successfully for 1,500 acre-feet of water, paying about $35 per acre-foot. That's slightly higher than the market price that irrigators pay for leasing water along the Front Range. The average price paid for water at NWCD's auctions has increased from around $22 an acre-foot in 2010 to $28 this year.

A & W also leases water from Longmont, Loveland, Greeley and other cities—and hauls it to drilling sites.

Among other bidders seeking water for industrial use, Leonard Wiest, president of the Windsor-based development company Trollco Inc., said he sees growing revenue from energy firms.

"If we've got the water, we would welcome them as a customer," Wiest said.

State natural resources officials emphasize that fracking still uses a relatively small share of water consumed in the state, with around 87 percent used for agriculture.

"The future is upon us. There's always been competition for water in Colorado. As industries develop, and industries fade, you'll see a shift in who can afford to pay the price," said Nicole Seltzer, director of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education, a nonprofit funded by state government and the energy industry.

Colorado's state-backed round-table process for addressing water challenges "has made preserving agricultural water in this state a priority," Seltzer said. "But you have to balance that with a free-market economy."