in The Ripple Effect by the SFWMD |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) received notification in mid-June from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the permit and associated projects DEP submitted on June 6, 2012, satisfy all of EPA's previous objections and are sufficient to achieve the stringent water quality requirements for the Everglades. This action paves the way for DEP to move forward with the state's permitting process to implement a historic plan — including an achievable strategy and enforceable schedule for constructing an array of treatment projects and associated water storage — to improve water quality in the Everglades. Last October, Governor Rick Scott directed DEP Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr., and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Executive Director Melissa L. Meeker to work collaboratively with EPA to expand water quality improvement projects and achieve the ultra-low state water quality standard established for the Everglades. Months of scientific and technical discussions led to the comprehensive plan, which DEP will enforce through state-issued permits and consent orders that include milestones for project completion, as well as enforcement mechanisms to ensure the milestones are met. The plan calls for the District to construct approximately 6,500 acres of additional state-of-the-art Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) and close to 110,000 acre-feet of associated water storage. Many core project components will be designed, constructed and operational within six years. "Governor Scott recognizes both the environmental and economic importance of a healthy Everglades, which is why he made Everglades restoration a top priority for the state," said Secretary Vinyard. "Thanks to EPA's expeditious review of our revised permit, we are moving forward on a comprehensive plan that is in the best interest of the Everglades and Florida's taxpayers." As part of the implementation process, DEP submitted to EPA a revised National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, along with an associated consent order, that authorizes the operation of 57,000 acres of existing Stormwater Treatment Areas south of Lake Okeechobee. Because EPA reviewed and agreed the revised permit meets the previous objections, the State will continue to move forward with its open and transparent permitting process. Next, DEP will issue a Notice of Draft, followed by Notice of Intent to Issue the Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and state-issued Everglades Forever Act permit and associated consent orders, which are subject to administrative review under state law. "This integrated plan will clean up water to protect the unique wetland system that makes up the Everglades Protection Area," said SFWMD Executive Director Meeker. "With a firm commitment to design, construct and operate a comprehensive and science-based suite of remedies, the District is taking a landmark step toward meeting the water quality needs of America's Everglades. We will continue to work closely with our federal partners to finalize and implement these important projects." Highlights of the strategies include:
To protect the Everglades' unique makeup of flora and fauna, DEP established a stringent phosphorus water quality standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb). This ultra-low phosphorus limit for the Everglades is six times cleaner than rainfall and 100 times lower than limits established for discharges from industrial facilities. To reduce nutrient pollution to the Everglades and achieve state and federal water quality requirements, the District constructed massive treatment wetlands known as Stormwater Treatment Areas that use plants to naturally remove phosphorus from water flowing into the Everglades. State law also requires best management practices on the 640,000 acres of agricultural land south of Lake Okeechobee. More than 45,000 acres — or 70 square miles — of treatment area are today operational and treating water to average phosphorus levels of less than 40 ppb and as low as 12 ppb. The District is completing construction of an additional 11,500 acres this month. Together with best farming practices, STAs have prevented more than 3,800 tons of phosphorus from entering the Everglades since 1994. This past year, the treatment wetlands treated 735,000 acre-feet of water and reduced the total phosphorus loads to the Everglades Protection Area by 79 percent. This plan to improve water quality builds upon Florida's $1.8 billion investment in Everglades water quality improvements to ensure achievement of the 10 ppb ambient water quality standard for the Everglades Protection Area. The schedule for implementing new projects balances economic realities with engineering, permitting, science and construction limitations. The plan proposes to utilize a combination of state and district revenues to complete the projects. The following documents are available on DEP's online newsroom:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
$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
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
With the state’s growth management agency dismantled last year by lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott, agriculture and development interests are seizing the opportunity, he said.
He pointed to the appointment of Peña to the panel recommending changes in wetlands laws as particularly troubling. She’s president of the Las Palmas community association — several hundred small nurseries, ranches and farms west of Krome Avenue long known as the 8.5 Square Mile Area. Residents in the area have repeatedly ran afoul of DERM, racking up some 90 code and wetlands violations in the last decade, according to county records.
“It’s such a grim scenario that when it comes to participating in these county task forces and working groups, I don’t see any point to it,” he said.
The county’s environmental agency, charged with monitoring and enforcing a wide range of county, state and federal laws, has long been a lightning rod for criticism. But the tone has grown more strident.
During last month’s commission meeting, Peña ticked off a long list of complaints: inspectors jumping fences, DERM dragging people to court over unpaid fines and forbidding residents from using portions of their lands.
“Is this America, or are we now going to legitimize Gestapo tactics in this country?” she said.
Several commissioners were quick to share in the disdain, branding regulators as overzealous and out to bolster the agency’s budget by assessing fines. Despite “the best intentions,” Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said, “a great idea has morphed into something that’s basically a monster.”
Complaints grew so heated at early wetlands advisory meetings that the county ordered police protection, said Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt, who oversees the planning, zoning and environmental agencies.
But Osterholt insisted the administration was looking to overhaul outdated and inconsistent environmental regulations and permitting requirements that cost businesses time and money — not to loosen regulations.
“The focus is unchanged,’’ Osterholt said. “The mission is unchanged.”
Bell, in an interview, insisted her goal in pushing for the wetlands laws wasn’t intended to open the door to more development but to “balance the needs of the average worker and the average small business.”
“I’m not trying to gut anything,” Bell said. “We are perceived as a county that’s unfriendly toward business. We have to change that.”
Environmentalists are skeptical. They contend the verbal attacks combined with shuffling leadership and staff cuts have undermined morale and created a “bunker mentality.” Since 2000, the DERM staff has dropped from 556 to 482, with another 56 cuts proposed for next year.
“There is a lot of pressure on them,” said Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society. “The climate is so bad, they’re afraid to say anything.”
Sara Fain, an attorney for the Everglades Law Center, said the complaints have come largely from landowners who have repeatedly flouted county laws and refused to pay court-ordered fines.
“It would be the same things as if I decided to install new windows in my house and didn’t apply for a permit,” she said. “This idea that DERM is trying to stop them from using their land is a fallacy.”
via miamiherald.com