Mike Sole, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, resigned this week. But "to pursue other unspecified opportunities" is not the main reason he took the opportunity to resign now. Florida has done such a bad job regulating and enforcing against water pollution, a responsibility delegated by the federal government to the state under the Clean Water Act, that if the work were being done in a charter school, the school would be shut down for malfeasance. The cozy relationship between state and federal regulators has been challenged in federal court, and after years of litigation, results are on the horizon. The arrangements could dramatically change, and whoever sits in the top state regulator's seat is going to be lashed to the bull.
The Florida legislature naturally represents polluters. Members of the Florida Congressional delegation are attempting an end-run of federal law. Think, fertilizer pouring from lawns in cities, dairy farms and sugar fields into Florida waters. Along those lines, it is interesting that the Interim DEP Secretary Mimi Drew has been deputy secretary for regulatory programs. She also spent nearly a decade as director of the division of water resource management. I got to know of Ms. Drew when, as a Sierra Club volunteer in the early 2000's, I wrote a report pulling back the veil covering the state's irresponsible program injecting treated wastewater into underground aquifers. Ms. Drew and her then-boss, David Struhs, ignored that work, resisted public disclosure of the scope and scale of the state's "injection control well program" and instead pushed hard, with EPA's acquiescence, to legalize serious flaws in the state program that permitted, nevertheless, violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. That story, too, was never reported in the mainstream press. Interesting days to come.
3 comments:
And the state, in turn, delegates much responsibility to local governments. How long did Renfrow sit at the top of Miami-Dade DERM and ignore serious environmental issues, like arsenic and amonia contamination in drinking water wells in Redland? Now he's head of water/sewer. State and Fed regulators would not do much because, by agreement, the county had jurisdiction. I for one will be delited if heads roll. No one seems to want to enforce environmental laws.
And then there's the unregulated rock mining thing in west Kendall. Please show up at that CC11 meeting in September, folks.
So, what was the reason he resigned? He was a-scared of the results of pending litigation concerning federal delegation of water management to the states by the Clean Water Act?! Give me a break.
Maybe he was afraid his usually cushy job was turning into a real one dealing with the results of the Gulf oil spill. Maybe the governor asked for his resignation. Let's ask our next Senator, Charlie.
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