Environmental Intersection by George Lindemann

Posted on Thu, Mar. 01, 2012 Everglades may get boost from lawmakers By CURTIS MORGAN AND STEVE BOUSQUET Cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com A year after slashing Everglades funding, Florida lawmakers appear poised to give some back. House and Senate budget negotiators this week agreed to set aside some $30 million for restoration projects. That’s still $10 million short of Gov. Rick Scott’s request but a major leap from the zero the Senate had initially penciled in. Environmental groups praised the move as a positive sign, saying they were cautiously optimistic that it signaled a change in direction from last year’s tough session, when lawmakers and Scott gutted Everglades and conservation land-buying programs, state growth management rules and other long-standing regulations. Now, they’re keeping their fingers crossed the trend will continue with a still-bigger target — a Senate bill that would lift spending caps lawmakers last year placed on the state’s five water management districts, which are largely funded by property tax revenue. The Florida Conservation Coalition calculated that the cap, placed on property tax rates that supply much of the districts’ revenues, wound up shriveling budgets by nearly 40 percent, or $700 million. The law also shifted oversight of the agencies’ spending to the Legislature. Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida, said that even legislative leaders acknowledge that last year’s measure went too far, threatening to cut into the districts’ “core missions” of providing flood protection and a supply of clean water to the public and natural systems like the Everglades. Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, acknowledged the ripple effects had run deeper than desired. The South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades restoration, has tapped reserve funds to cover shortfalls, a strategy that will work only in the short-term. Alexander said he helped put the new bill together “because I felt like we needed to take another look at it and find a more sustainable policy. There are reserves that are just a bit out of balance and I think, longer term, that in order to meet the water resource needs, the water boards must keep the state waters clean.” While the bill would lift the caps on spending, it also leaves a final review of the district’s budget largely to lawmakers — a provision environmentalists hope to see removed. They’re supporting a proposal by Scott that largely restores the system that existed before last year’s changes, leaving oversight of the districts under the governor, who also appoints their governing boards. Kirk Fordham, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation, said legislative authority only injects more politics into efforts to maintain funding for Everglades restoration and cleanup projects already expected to take decades. “We certainly don’t want to see the process become pork-barreled where, from session to session, you have a new committee chair that wants to put projects in his own backyard,” Fordham said. “You can’t provide long-term planning with that.” But lawmakers also may be reluctant to give up newly won control over the districts, agencies that collect hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes and have pursued expensive projects or land-buys without legislative approval. Under Gov. Charlie Crist, the South Florida Water Management District sought an audacious $1.75 billion deal to buy out the sprawling empire of the U.S. Sugar Corp. The deal, heavily criticized by lawmakers, was eventually downsized to a $197 million land purchase of 26,800 acres. But some environmental groups have questioned whether the Legislature’s power grab will stand up under court challenge, saying the system of independent districts was established in the state Constitution. Environmentalists are banking on beefed up support to repair some of the losses from last session. The Florida Conservation Coalition — created in November under the leadership of Bob Graham, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, and a number of influential former state executives — has made the water management rollback a priority. They also give some credit to Scott, who told conservation groups in January that he had learned a lot in his first year and was vowing to make Everglades issues a priority. With the state under pressure from federal judges, the governor last year outlined a plan to expand the network of artificial marshes used to reduce the amount of farm pollution flowing into the Everglades. Negotiations with federal agencies continue over the state plan, which was significantly smaller than one proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Scott followed up by proposing $40 million in restoration funding in his budget. That’s still down from a peak of $100 million to $200 million in annual state funding during the administration of former Gov. Jeb Bush but double what Scott proposed the previous year. Scott’s budget proposal also included $15 million for Florida Forever but lawmakers have not yet allocated anything for the land-buying program in their roughly $70 billion proposals. “It does make a difference by him putting it out there,” Draper said.

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A bill that would require water management districts to receive budget approval from the Legislature was substantially revised Thursday and passed by the Senate.

Being an adult I can’t throw myself on the floor and scream, but I sure would like to after reviewing the anti-environmental legislation proposed by the Florida Legislature during the current session.

Bills have been proposed to:

• Steal public lands and waters.

• Drill for oil and gas on public lands. Put advertising signs on greenways and trails.

• Eliminate septic tank inspections.

• Eliminate concurrency for schools and transportation for new development.

• Support water quality rules that will allow continued nutrient degradation of our waters.

• Move control to Tallahassee of water management funding.

• Stop registering greenhouse gas emitters.

And, funding has been withheld for Florida Forever environmental land acquisition and Everglades restoration, two programs that have been the hallmark of Florida’s environmental programs for decades.

Every company, business or landowner in the state of Florida, represented by high-paid lobbyists, that wants something that otherwise would not be legal or acceptable has come out from under a rock with a bill written to get what he wants at the expense of the public. It is insane.

Legislators are acting like the boys in Lord of the Flies. They need adult supervision.

Hypocrisy is rampant. The Climate Protection Act doesn’t protect us from our changing climate. It undoes more of what former Gov. Charlie Crist got passed to make Florida a leader in responding to climate change. Environmental resource permitting makes it easier to get a permit and does not advance the protection of our natural resources as the name might imply.

The sad thing is that the public understands very little about what is happening. But what is going on is bad for Florida. It is bad for you and over time the cost of doing business in this state will increase because of the decisions made by this legislature.

Your waters will continue to deteriorate. Do you like beach closures Memorial Day Weekend or on July 4th because of high bacterial counts or slimy green algae?

North Florida’s waters will end up in South Florida. Hope you don’t mind paying for water supply for Polk County. Your taxes will go up as you are asked to pay for the cost and impacts of development that developers will no longer pay.

Oil and gas wells will appear on public lands and the associated pollution will make it very unpleasant and unhealthy to visit these sites, not to mention that an oil well will never look or smell like a tree.

Advertisers will place sponsorship signs at trail heads and you will be reminded to eat your Twinkie. And, to heck with a Zen experience in state parks. There will be no more public land acquisition and paving will gradually stretch from coast to coast and north to south and with all the paving will come increasing electric bills.

You think all this is an exaggeration? I wouldn’t bet against these predictions.

Here is the real rub. Florida has some serious environmental problems that need to be fixed, but our legislature is busy undoing the past 40 years of environmental safeguards that have served us well. This anti-environmental agenda is unacceptable. It is bad for Florida’s economy. It is bad for jobs. It is bad for our children.

In the future as things worsen in this state, as they will with these kinds of bills, businesses will not want to locate here.

Where is our governor in all this? Oh that’s right, Gov. Rick Scott hasn’t read the bills yet.

Pamela McVety, who worked for the Department of Environmental Regulation and various other environmental agencies in Tallahassee over 30 years, retired in 2003. She is a member of the Florida Conservation Coalition.

Being an adult I can’t throw myself on the floor and scream, but I sure would like to after reviewing the anti-environmental legislation proposed by the Florida Legislature during the current session.

Bills have been proposed to:

• Steal public lands and waters.

• Drill for oil and gas on public lands. Put advertising signs on greenways and trails.

• Eliminate septic tank inspections.

• Eliminate concurrency for schools and transportation for new development.

• Support water quality rules that will allow continued nutrient degradation of our waters.

• Move control to Tallahassee of water management funding.

• Stop registering greenhouse gas emitters.

And, funding has been withheld for Florida Forever environmental land acquisition and Everglades restoration, two programs that have been the hallmark of Florida’s environmental programs for decades.

Every company, business or landowner in the state of Florida, represented by high-paid lobbyists, that wants something that otherwise would not be legal or acceptable has come out from under a rock with a bill written to get what he wants at the expense of the public. It is insane.

Legislators are acting like the boys in Lord of the Flies. They need adult supervision.

Hypocrisy is rampant. The Climate Protection Act doesn’t protect us from our changing climate. It undoes more of what former Gov. Charlie Crist got passed to make Florida a leader in responding to climate change. Environmental resource permitting makes it easier to get a permit and does not advance the protection of our natural resources as the name might imply.

The sad thing is that the public understands very little about what is happening. But what is going on is bad for Florida. It is bad for you and over time the cost of doing business in this state will increase because of the decisions made by this legislature.

Your waters will continue to deteriorate. Do you like beach closures Memorial Day Weekend or on July 4th because of high bacterial counts or slimy green algae?

North Florida’s waters will end up in South Florida. Hope you don’t mind paying for water supply for Polk County. Your taxes will go up as you are asked to pay for the cost and impacts of development that developers will no longer pay.

Oil and gas wells will appear on public lands and the associated pollution will make it very unpleasant and unhealthy to visit these sites, not to mention that an oil well will never look or smell like a tree.

Advertisers will place sponsorship signs at trail heads and you will be reminded to eat your Twinkie. And, to heck with a Zen experience in state parks. There will be no more public land acquisition and paving will gradually stretch from coast to coast and north to south and with all the paving will come increasing electric bills.

You think all this is an exaggeration? I wouldn’t bet against these predictions.

Here is the real rub. Florida has some serious environmental problems that need to be fixed, but our legislature is busy undoing the past 40 years of environmental safeguards that have served us well. This anti-environmental agenda is unacceptable. It is bad for Florida’s economy. It is bad for jobs. It is bad for our children.

In the future as things worsen in this state, as they will with these kinds of bills, businesses will not want to locate here.

Where is our governor in all this? Oh that’s right, Gov. Rick Scott hasn’t read the bills yet.

Pamela McVety, who worked for the Department of Environmental Regulation and various other environmental agencies in Tallahassee over 30 years, retired in 2003. She is a member of the Florida Conservation Coalition.

A bill making its way through the Legislature would dump 5 billion gallons of treated sewage into the ocean every year, but save South Florida's utility ratepayers at least $1.3 billion.

The bill changes a 2008 law that told utilities to completely stop flushing treated sewage into the ocean through pipes by 2025, to save coral reefs and marine ecosystems. A 2008 DEP study decided "the weight of the evidence" showed the sewage was harming South Florida's coastal marine life.

The amendment allows utilities to pump a reduced amount of sewage into the ocean annually after the 2025 deadline. They could pipe out 5 percent of their annual sewage flow, which totals over 5 billion gallons a year. Right now, utilities pump a total of about 71 billion gallons of treated sewage into the ocean a year.

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All the pipes affected by the bill, which is in the Senate Budget Committee and has passed the House unanimously, are located in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. If the bill passes the committee, it goes to the full Senate, where it would be likely to pass.

"This is done in the best interest of the public, because it's such significant savings to them," said Alan Garcia, Broward's water and wastewater director. "We're still meeting most of the original goal."

A University of Florida study in 2008 estimated that a household using an average of 7,500 gallons a month could pay an extra $19.80 per month if utilities have to shut down the pipes completely. That number would go down if this bill passes, utility directors said.

Miami-Dade would save $820 million, Hollywood $160 million and Broward County $300 million, utility directors said.

The change to the 2008 law doesn't affect ratepayers in Palm Beach County as much. Delray Beach's pipe shut down in 2008 and Boca Raton has reduced its ocean flow by half, and plans to shut its pipe down by 2015.

The original ban also aimed to save reusable water from being lost into the ocean.

It told utilities to find a way to reuse 60 percent of sewage for irrigation, watering lawns and even recharging the drinking water aquifer. The amendment doesn't change that.

But Divon Quirolo, founder of Reef Relief, an activist organization that pushed for the 2008 law, wonders whether utilities hope to slowly get out of the original law.

She cites the fact that the current bill also pushes back a deadline for utilities to have a permitted plan for meeting the law's requirements from July 2013 to October 2014. None of the three utilities pushing for the bill has gotten beyond the planning stages of their major water reuse projects over the past four years.

"They're trying to delay, avoid and weaken," Quirolo said.

The reason South Florida would save so much money if utilities could pump just 5 percent of sewage out to sea has to do with "peak flow events," utility directors said, which are heavy rains or other events that suddenly overburden regular sewage treatment systems.

Hollywood, Miami-Dade County and Broward County say they would have to build multimillion dollar wells to inject that "peak flow" into the ground unless they can just keep dumping into the Atlantic. They all already have wells to inject water into the ground, but would need another to deal with peak flow.

While the amendment is good news for anyone with a sewage bill in Broward or Miami-Dade counties, the change is bad news for fish, coral and beaches.

Saving reefs and ecosystems was a major reason lawmakers passed the 2008 law.

Many scientists say the treated sewage, which contains chemicals from human pharmaceuticals and bathrooms products and nutrients that can cause algae blooms, has destroyed the ocean environment off South Florida's coasts.

The water is screened of solids but doesn't meet standards for watering a lawn or a field of crops.

"When the money isn't there, the government wants to argue there's no need for it," said Matthew Schwartz, environmental activist and executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association. "Meanwhile, our coral reefs and marine ecosystems are being destroyed."

The amendment was sponsored by representatives and senators from Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

But since Delray Beach shut down its pipe in 2008, it has had to open it again on three occasions.

They've pumped out about 1 percent a year out to sea, "nowhere near 5 percent," said Dennis Coates, executive director of the plant.

Still, he does hope to keep pumping that much after the deadline. They wouldn't need nearly 5 percent, but for peak flows it would be nice to use the ocean pipe.

"This change allows us to not build a duplicate injection system that we would use a few days a year," Garcia said. "That gives us a lot more efficiency for our dollars."

abarkhurst@tribune.com or 954-356-4451

TALLAHASSEE -- A bill that won the support of the Florida House on Thursday could jump-start the stalled Port of Miami Deep Dredge.

The proposed legislation — which passed by a 110-5 vote — has to do with permits for storm-water management systems.

But earlier this week, House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, tacked on language about permits for deep-water ports. The amendment requires legal challenges to dredging projects to be heard within 30 days of the motion being filed.

The revised version of the bill could come in handy for the $150 million Port of Miami project, which is being held up by challenges from environmental groups and the community of Fisher Island.

An administrative law judge in Tallahassee recently ordered a hearing for August — putting the dredging and blasting scheduled to start this summer on indefinite hold.

During a trip to Tallahassee last week, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez asked members of the Miami-Dade delegation to help get the dredge underway as soon as possible.

“We need to speed this up,” Gimenez said.

Lopez-Cantera said opponents of the dredge had employed “delay tactics” and were afforded ample opportunity to have their voices heard.

“The economic impact to our community is too important to let a small group of obstructionists delay it any longer than necessary,” he said.

But Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society, said the amendment sounded like an effort to circumvent legal procedure. She pointed out that the groups had already scheduled mediation hearings next month with Florida regulators in addition to the hearing set for August.

“We have a date scheduled and now we’re seeing this sort of an end run,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the aim wasn’t to derail a project that port managers say could create thousands of jobs, but to ensure that the work doesn’t come at the expense of the surrounding marine environment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she said, had rejected what she called “minimal” protections for things like water quality originally requested by the state.

“We have no delusions about stopping the port expansion,” she said. “We just want to protect Biscayne Bay.”

In a meeting Thursday with members of The Miami Herald’s Editorial Board, Corps project managers insisted the environmental impacts of the project would be short-lived and minimized by closely monitoring turbidity and temporarily shutting down buckets or cutters to prevent dense, damaging plumes from forming.

Terri Jordan-Sellers, the port’s biologist for the project, said critics had exaggerated the impacts from blasting.

“They think of bombs going off in the bay,” she said. “That’s not what we have here.”

Corps contractors would use special “confined” blasting techniques, which cap the small charges to direct impacts to the rocky channel bed and greatly reduce the underwater pressure waves that can hurt marine life.

Similar techniques were used in a 2005 dredging of another section of the port and follow-up surveys of sea grass and reefs showed no damage from silting, Jordan-Sellers said.

The Corps said no manatees, dolphins or turtles were killed during blasting and an average of 14 dead fish were recovered after each of 40 rounds of blasting — most of them small bait fish. There were also no complaints of vibration or damage from residents on Fisher Island or other nearby communities, Jordan-Sellers said.

Bill Johnson, the director of the Port of Miami, characterized environmental groups, two Fisher Island condominium associations and me as “lunatics” for challenging the viability of the port’s deep-dredge plan. Johnson, as a high-ranking public servant, demeans concerned citizens who have raised serious issues with the project’s viability.

This language is not only uncalled for, it also degrades Miami-Dade residents who value the continued health and well-being of Biscayne Bay.

His statement, “Time is money. . . . One thing we cannot do, which is delay the dredge,” shows that money will always trump sound decisions. Biscayne Bay is too important a resource to rush ahead with a project that, if executed with the same disregard for the bay as were the last three dredging projects, will destroy this finite resource.

For the past 13 years, I have known the challenges of executing a project of this size. I have been intimately involved in the planning long before Johnson showed up on the scene. My past positions as a Biscayne Bay Management Committee member, city of Miami Waterfront Board Vice Chairman, Florida Marine Fisheries Commissioner and Biscayne Bay Regional Restoration Coordination Team member place me in a unique position to appreciate the complexities of the issue.

I haven’t taken my commitment to do the right thing for Biscayne Bay lightly.

As a lifelong resident of Miami-Dade County, I have seen many “build it, and they will come” schemes, usually with disastrous results. This time, Johnson will have to wait until the parties involved reach a settlement in the negotiations that begin next month or take his chances with an administrative judge in Tallahassee who has deemed our concerns credible enough to schedule a hearing date.

This time maybe money won’t trump good judgment, especially when the viability and vitality of Biscayne Bay is on the line.

Dan Kipnis, Miami Beach

An Audubon scientist sees a flash of pink hope in the return of roseate spoonbill to nests on the mangroves dotting Florida Bay (Miami Dade, 2/17/2012)