"Water districts respond to former board members who wrote Gov. Scott" @flcurrent

The chairs of the state's five water management districts say their agencies are focused on the "prudent use of taxpayer dollars" rather than on raising taxes.

They wrote a letter on Monday in response to a missive sent to Gov. Rick Scott last week by 20 former board members of the districts . The former board members asked the governor to restore funding for the districts in the wake of cuts last year imposed by legislation.

The Legislature this year lifted the spending caps, but the districts have proposed keeping the same or slightly lower tax rates under reported pressure from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. A DEP spokesman said this month the department "collaborated" with the districts to hold down the cost of living for Florida residents.

The former board members, in their letter last week, described the economic benefits of proper water management and threats to future water supplies from a growing population. They point out that the owner of a $150,000 home in the South Florida Water Management District saved less than $20 in taxes paid because of the cuts last year.

They suggested the option of allowing "some discretion" for each of the five districts to adopt tax rates needed "to accomplish their core mission."

The five chairmen responded Monday that past spending on land acquisition, building expansions and local partnership projects had built good will but also had led to unrealistic growth their agencies' sizes along with salaries and benefits that exceeded those of state employees.

"Today, in a different fiscal climate, the governor and Legislature are focused on prudent use of taxpayer dollars and not increasing the burden of more government and higher taxes on Florida’s citizens," the letter stated.

The chairmen pointed to projects under way this year in each of the districts that when combined provide almost $1 billion towards restoration and water conservation. In addition, the South Florida Water Management District is moving "aggressively" forward on the governor's plan to spend $880 million over 12 years on Everglades restoration, including $87.6 million in this year's budget.

The board chairmen said they were pleased that the Legislature lifted the revenue caps.

"This will allow our budgets to grow as Florida’s economy grows -- rather than increasing the burden on current taxpayers," they wrote.

Eric Buermann, a former South Florida Water Management District board member, said he and some of the others who signed the letter last week were disappointed and taken aback that the governor did not personally respond.

"The districts are driven now right out of Tallahassee," Buermann said. "Anybody who doesn't think that is kidding themselves."

-Bruce Ritchie

"Brevard County wetlands proposal offers test of revised state growth management laws"@flcurrent

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 famously wrote of pornography, "I know it when I see it."

His statement exemplified the difficulty of defining pornography, much less regulating it against constitutional protections for free speech.

A similar question of definition is slowly unfolding in Florida as a result of growth management law changes approved by the Legislature in 2011.
HB 7207 reduced the state's role in overseeing local government growth policies and future land-use map changes. But the bill also called on state government to continue "protecting the functions of important state resources and facilities."

While environmentalists said the law would unleash urban sprawl and threaten natural resources, supporters said the state would focus its reviews on natural areas deserving of state protection.

Now a Brevard County proposal to revise its wetlands protection policies has begun to reveal how the state will define those important natural resources worthy of state protection.

Planners last year were left asking what areas the state would protect in addition to obvious environmental areas, such as The Everglades.

"(HB 7207) did not give a definition of what it (important state resources) was," said Merle Bishop, immediate past president of the Florida chapter of the American Planning Association and senior planner with Kimley-Horn Associates in Lakeland. "It was kind of like, 'We'll know when we see it.'"

Brevard County now has perhaps the most stringent wetland protection ordinances in the state, said Ernest Brown, director of the Brevard County Natural Resources Management Office.

The Brevard County Commission directed its staff to develop comprehensive plan language that brings the county to a "level playing field" with surrounding counties, Brown said. The proposed changes, he said, would allow development in wetlands along certain roadways for commercial and industrial properties and in some areas with agricultural zoning.

In reviewing the proposals, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection identified important state resources as federal national wildlife refuges, state aquatic preserves, the Indian River and portions of the upper St. Johns River Basin that have been identified as "Outstanding Florida Waters" requiring protection under state law.

DEP asked the county to either not adopt the changes or to provide maps to identify areas that could be affected and demonstrate that resulting changes would be minimal. The St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also filed comments.

Charles Pattison, executive director of the 1000 Friends of Florida environmental group, said the state for the first time is identifying areas where development deserves comment, but he also wondered whether the state will object if the county moves forward to approve

"Now the question is are they going to do enough to say, 'It's an important state resource, are you (Brevard County) doing enough to protect it?' And are we OK with it?'" he said.

There remain questions about which less obvious state resources deserve protection and how the state defines those, said Bishop, who was the American Planning Association chapter president until this past week.

"Is it things that impact the Peace River? Probably," Bishop said. "But what about somebody's little stream or small wetland in their backyard?"

Brevard County has revised the proposal to include maps showing specific areas along roadways where protection policies will be relaxed and other areas where higher quality wetlands will remain protected, Brown said. The Brevard County Planning Commission will consider the revised proposal on Monday and the Brevard County Commission will consider final adoption on Oct. 9.

1000 Friends of Florida was still reviewing the revised proposal on Friday, Pattison said. Mary Sphar, a Sierra Club member from Cocoa, said she thinks the revised proposal is worse than the earlier proposal because it allows higher-quality wetlands to be developed if a project is found to be in the public interest for economic reasons.

Brown said Brevard County is attempting to promote "flexible and balanced stewardship" of its resources. He said he agrees the case is important in defining what important resources are protected by the state.

"I think we have achieved a pretty decent middle ground," he said. "I think it was healthy the state weighed in. They helped us further refine the proposed outcome."

-Bruce Ritchie

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.

"Scott again faces decision on vetoing environmental restoration projects" @ The Florida Current #eco #water #verglades

Scott again faces decision on vetoing environmental restoration projects
Bruce Ritchie, 03/21/2012 - 01:47 PM

When he signed his first state budget as governor last year, Scott vetoed $10 million for St. Johns River restoration projects among $615 million in spending vetos. He didn't give a reason for vetoing the river projects but said Florida families were having to get by with less and so should state government.

The 2012-13 state budget passed by the Legislature has $19 million in water quality projects (Line 1683A) including $5.6 million for St. Johns River restoration, $3.5 million for a Hendry County airport utility system, and $2.3 million for a LaBelle sewage treatment plant. 

An additional $400,000 was appropriated for an economic analysis of the St. Johns River by the University of North Florida. Another $4.8 million is appropriated (Line 1863A) for restoration projects for Lake Apopka north of Orlando, one of Florida's largest lakes.

Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said Tuesday that he wants to get Scott onto the river, but not to press him on the budget item.

"I think we're going to be OK on the budget -- that's my gut feeling," Thrasher said. "We want to get him out there as governor soon, to see what we consider a real treasure for our area."

The St. Johns River has algal blooms caused by nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants, discharges from farms and dairy operations and dirty stormwater runoff. The St. Johns River Water Management District is considering a 2011 list of projects that could receive some of the $5.6 million, district officials said.

Asked what criteria he will use to veto environmental projects, Scott told reporters Tuesday, "What I will do with anything in the budget having to do with the environment -- I will look at it (and) get advice from the Department of Environmental Protection to make sure it is money well spent."

In December, Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla and chairman of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on General Government Appropriations, co-hosted the Lake Apopka Restoration Summit to review progress being made and discuss its future. 

Lake Apopka lost 20,000 acres of shoreline wetlands to farming beginning in the 1940s and received high-phosphorus discharges from those farms until the late 1990s. The district purchased the farmland in the late 1990s and created a marsh treatment flow-way in 2003.

Recalling how Lake Apopka was a prized fishing lake before its ecological collapse, Hays told The Florida Current that the $4.8 million will be used to identify new technologies that can accelerate the lake's restoration. The budget language requires the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to submit a list of projects to the Legislature before it receives the money.

"I think it is incumbent on those of us who care about the health of Lake Apopka and about the health of the St. Johns River to impress upon the governor why those projects are important to the long term health of the state of Florida," Hays said. "I don't stand to gain a single thing out of either one of those."

Reporter Travis Pillow contributed to this report.

via thefloridacurrent.com

 

"No-brainer" water permitting bill dies in Senate despite backing, leaving House chairman "speechless" | The Florida Current

Bruce Ritchie, 03/15/2012 - 05:01 PM

Select Committee on Water Policy Chairwoman Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, guides the committee. She says she's considering a run for Senate. Photo Credit: Florida House of Representatives 3-11-11

A House committee chairwoman said Thursday that her committee's bill to extend the length of water-use permits seemed like a "no-brainer" and she was surprised it died without a vote in the Senate.

HB 7045 by the Select Committee on Water Policy would have extended permits for alternative water supply projects from at least 20 years to at least 30 years in state law. Supporters said the bill would have encouraged water utilities to protect scarce water supplies by making it easier and cheaper for them to borrow money for water projects.

The bill passed the House 116-0 on Feb. 15 and was never taken up in the Senate. The Senate companion, SB 1178, passed three committees but died awaiting action at its final stop, the Senate Budget Committee.

Read more at: thefloridacurrent.com

 

"2012 session summary: #Environment and Natural Resources" in The Florida Current #eco #water


Blue Spring. Photo Credit: systemslibrarian

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and Nathaniel P. Reed of Hobe Sound were among the speakers in November during an environmental rally outside the Capitol. They called on Gov. Rick Scott to show leadership on environmental issues and for the Legislature to undo some of the harmful law and budget changes they said occurred during 2011. Environmentalists didn't get what they were calling for, but they may have somewhat begun to turn the tide that has been running against the programs they support. Any success those groups enjoyed during the 2012 session may be better measured not by what was passed as by what didn't pass. Efforts to restrict local fertilizer ordinances and to encourage oil drilling on state lands failed. Other bills were modified to gain environmental support. However, a bill repealing the statewide requirement for septic tank inspections passed. The Sierra Club and Florida Stormwater Association opposed the bill's new restrictions on local septic tank inspection programs. Meanwhile, visitors to state trails and state parks could see advertising and herds of African wildlife. The Florida Forever land-buying program and Everglades restoration received some funding, but not as much as environmentalists had hoped. 

KEY ISSUES

TRAILS, STATE LANDS: SB 268, which is headed to the governor, allows businesses and groups to sponsor trails and put their advertisements at trailheads. The bill still faces opposition because it allows the Department of Environmental Protection to negotiate agreements for trails other than the seven identified in the bill. … HB 1117, which is headed to the governor, would allow giraffes, elephants, rhinos and other zoo animals to roam state parks with approval by the Cabinet.  .... A provision in SB 1998, a budget conforming bill related to transportation that is headed to the governor, requires an expedited hearing process for a legal challenge to the proposed dredging in Biscayne Bay to deepen the port of Miami. ... HB 1103, which environmentalists opposed as a state-lands giveaway by changing the definition of submerged state lands, stalled after its first committee stop. ... HB 695, encouraging oil and gas exploration and drilling on state lands, died on the House calendar.

WATER QUALITY: The 2010 requirement for septic tank inspections statewide will be repealed if Gov. Rick Scott signs HB 1263. That Department of Health reorganization bill contained the language from HB 599. The bill also places limits on local septic tank inspection programs, prohibits inspection requirements when a home is sold, and prohibits local ordinances requiring advanced "performance-based" septic tanks until a DOH study is completed. … The Legislature in HB 7051 waived approval of water quality rules proposed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Those rules, which face a legal challenge filed by environmental groups, would replace federal rules that utilities and industry groups oppose. The bill was signed by Scott on Feb. 16. … There was a fight again this year between environmentalists and the landscaping industry over local fertilizer regulations. SB 604, exempting certified landscaping professionals from local ordinances, was killed by the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation by a 4-3 vote.

WATER POLICY AND PERMITTING: HB 503 resembled an environmental permit streamlining bill that passed the House last year but wasn't voted on in the Senate. Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, was praised by environmentalists for resolving a variety of concerns. The bill also fixes 2010 recycling legislation that would have allowed counties to claim recycling rates in excess of 100 percent. … Environmentalists also backed HB 639 dealing with treated wastewater after an objectionable provision was removed. The bill encourages the use of such "reclaimed water" by exempting it from water management district permitting. … HB 1389, which would exempt landowners from wetland regulations for participating in environmental water storage programs, passed during the final day of the session. … HB 7003 directs the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to undertake writing a statewide Environmental Resource Permit rule. … HB 7045 allowing permits for up to 37 years for alternative water supply projects passed the House 116-0 but wasn't taken up by the Senate.

BUDGET: SB 1986, a budget conforming bill that lifts the property tax revenue caps imposed in 2011 by the Legislature, passed the House and Senate. The Florida Conservation Coalition initially opposed a requirement in the bill for legislative approval but dropped its opposition after the language was modified … After vetoing Florida Forever spending authority last year, Gov. Rick Scott requested $15 million for the program in fiscal year 2012-13. The Legislature provided $8.3 million. … Scott also requested $40 million for Everglades restoration. The Legislature provided $30 million for Everglades restoration plus $5 million for the northern Everglades (north of Lake Okeechobee) and estuaries programs. ... The budget also includes $10 million for beach sand restoration projects, $4.8 million in debt service towards a $50-million wastewater plant in the Florida Keys, $5.6 million for St. Johns River restoration projects, $125 million for petroleum contamination sites and $4.8 million for Lake Apopka restoration.

AGRICULTURE: HB 1197, which gives the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services sole authority to regulate beekeeping, is on its way to the governor. Language from other bills that were languishing was added to HB 1197, including an exemption from local government stormwater fees for farms. Citrus harvesting equipment and fruit loaders would be added to the list of farming vehicles that are exempt from paying state motor fuel taxes. The beekeeping provisions of HB 1197 were prompted by local restrictions on beekeeping cropping up in some suburban areas. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling for a veto because of a Senate amendment the group says would allow chicks and bunnies to be sold at Easter and then discarded. ... HB 1237, which returns the executive director of the Department of Citrus to being an appointed position without Senate confirmation, also is headed to the governor.

 

A comprehensive list of Environment and Natural Resources legislation that was passed during the 2012 Regular Session can be found here.

 

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

  

via thefloridacurrent.com

House gives speedy approval to bill backing state water quality rules | The Florida Current

via thefloridacurrent.com

"A bill that would exempt proposed state water rules from legislative ratification passed the House on Friday, less than two weeks after it was filed.

Florida's springs and rivers are becoming choked with weeds and algae. Scientists say nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of sources are to blame for the problems.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection in December adopted rules to impose limits on nitrogen and phosphorus. They are intended to replace federal rules that utilities and industry groups oppose as too costly."