The lost decades: the US EPA and water quality protection in the State of Florida ... by gimleteye

When Jeb Bush came to office a decade ago, he was carried by a wave of anger against regulation in its many forms, especially related to the environment. There would be a new way, according to his formula for Florida's future, that followed the now discredited notion that enlightened self-interest by business would prevent toxics from overwhelming the public interest.

Former Gov. Bush didn't just favor voluntary compliance by industry to restrict pollution, he suppressed rule making, laws, and enforcement actions against polluters. But Florida's troubles with polluted waterways didn't start with Bush; from a political point of view the antipathy to regulations began almost as quickly as the nation's strongest federal laws were put in place. The backlash acquired momentum during the Reagan revolution when the Sagebrush Rebellion against environmental laws bred its own connections to southeast Florida.

President Clinton's triangulation strategy also veered away from tough federal intervention in favor of the states. His EPA, under Carol Browner, shied away from a tough regulatory regime in Florida where the conflicts between development and water resources pushed issues related to pollution. For the most part, the response by Florida's environmental organizations was to take what they could get; which wasn't much but words and a succession of state legislation weakening pollution standards and putting citizen objectors at an ever greater distance from their government.

In one of his last acts in the White House, George W. Bush approved requiring the US EPA to set water quality standards for nutrients for all Florida surface waters. It is an astounding reversal and leaves the clean-up after decades of mismanagement of the federal interest to the Obama administration to sort out.

The problem: over the past decade, and in Florida in particular, the capacity of EPA to do much more than send a few people to meetings has been severely truncated. Does anyone even know how many enforcement actions EPA initiated against polluters in Florida or wetlands' violators in the past ten years?

Clinton didn't run away from the nutrient pollution issue because he wanted to-- it was because the politics were so damned severe, wrapping his fortunes with sugar barons like Alfie Fanjul and campaign supporters hungry for development that only succeeded by mispricing the risks of financial derivatives at the same time as mispricing the costs of pollution.

The Bush White House decision was driven by a recent federal court decision against the State of Florida's grossly distorted, new phosphorous standard rule pushed by Big Sugar, land speculators and former Gov. Bush in 2002 and pitched to the media by then FDEP Secretary and chief carnival barker David Struhs on federal courthouse steps in downtown Miami, where a federal judge was gravely disturbed by alterations that violated the intent of an agreed upon settlement by the state and US government. It's over now, but how the US EPA will be able to pick up the pieces remains to be seen. (click 'read more' for a detailed press release by Florida Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.)


Contact: Jerry Phillips (850)877-8097; Luke Eshleman (202) 265-7337
*FEDS INTERVENE TO SET FLORIDA WATER QUALITY STANDARDS
Rising Percentage of State Rivers, Lakes and Estuaries Impaired by Excess
Nutrients *
Washington, DC - In one of the final acts of the Bush administration, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would set "water
quality standards for nutrients" for all Florida surface waters. The action
signals a breakdown in the state's water pollution protection program so
profound that federal intervention is required, according to Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Already, one-third of all Florida lakes, one-quarter of its estuaries and
one-sixth of its rivers are officially classified as "impaired" by
pollution. The January 14, 2009 U.S. EPA "determination letter" states that
poor water quality in Florida is "likely to worsen" without federal action.

Currently, Florida lacks any quantitative or numeric pollution standards for
nutrients, such as phosphorus. The state instead relies on a "narrative
criterion" that pollution should not cause "an imbalance in natural
populations of aquatic flora or fauna". EPA concludes that "Florida's
narrative nutrient criterion alone is not sufficient to …meet the
requirements of the CWA [Clean Water Act]".

"Our state Department of Environmental Protection is flat out losing the
battle to save Florida's waters," stated Florida PEER Director Jerry
Phillips, a former DEP enforcement attorney. "This 'narrative criterion' is
essentially a smell test - which itself does not pass a smell test."

The EPA letter states that it "expects to propose numeric nutrient criteria
for lakes and flowing waters within 12 months, and for estuaries and coastal
waters, within 24 months" - a timeline which puts these tasks squarely in
the lap of the incoming Obama administration. PEER points to mounting
pressure on EPA to act coming from multiple sources, including -

- A long series of adverse federal court rulings that EPA has been
derelict in protecting Florida's water quality, particularly as it affects
the Everglades. The agency is under court order to shape up the state
pollution program, even as more suits are being filed against it;

- Florida DEP has tried to cook the books by firing its key lab manager
who was finding pollution readings that were off the chart. That lab
manager, Tom White, is represented by PEER in a whistleblower lawsuit
nearing trail. In the determination letter, EPA notes that DEP has spent
"over $20 million in collecting and analyzing data" but has yet to develop
numeric standards; and

- DEP has little idea of how much of which pollutant is being discharged
to state waters. In response to a records request, the agency told PEER
that it "would have to develop a new [computer] program" to be able to track
how many permits had been issued or renewed.

The announcement came in a joint press release, entitled "EPA and Florida
DEP Work Together to Restore Florida's Surface Water", which seeks to
portray the federal intervention as a cooperative venture. It was issued on
January 16th, the last full working day of the Bush administration.

"This press announcement is an ardent attempt to put a lot of lipstick on a
very big pig," Phillips added. "When the Bush EPA is forced to step in is a
sign that things are really bad."

###

Read a copy of the EPA determination letter


See the "happy talk" joint EPA/DEP
release

Note the series of adverse court rulings against EPA oversight in
Florida

Look at whistleblower suit by DEP water quality lab
manager

View DEP inability to answer request for overall water permit status