Lynda Bell the holy war against DERM, by Geniusofdespair

I wrote this April 15, 2011:



As much as I didn't want her elected, I never thought County Commissioner Lynda Bell would be quite this bad so quickly. She is launching a holy war against DERM. She might as well be in bed with FPL as she is kissing their asses. I believe she would like to dismantle the Department of Resource Manangement or clip its wings from managing the fragile environment in Miami Dade. She has launched a misguided resolution based on faulty data about how EPA standards hurt Miami Dade County.
 
Report: STATE ADOPTION OF NUMERIC NUTRIENT STANDARDS (1998‐2008)

page 9 of the report shows a map of all the states that have adopted various levels of numeric nutrient criteria already - the resolution of Lynda Bell (adopted - TO OPPOSE EPA PROPOSED NUMERIC NUTRIENT CRITERIA FOR WATER QUALITY) implies that we're being singled out.  There are at least 18 states with standards already (as of 2008, so there may be more).  Note: At another meeting, she said that if the FDA approved pink slime added to meat, who is she to argue with them, but now that we are dealing with clean water, she feels the EPA is inept. What is it Lynda, regulation that suits you only, saving money at the cost of people's health?

In 1998 The US EPA started a “national strategy” for developing nutrient criteria.  In 2004, FDEP and the US EPA began working on standards for Florida.  In 2008, Environmental groups sued EPA for not moving fast enough.  EPA agreed in 2009 to stop dragging their heels, and finally brought proposed standards to the public in January 2010.  The EPA agreed to delay final implementation of the final rule (adopted November 2010) for 15 months – March 2012.

According to Clean Water Action (and others), implementation / compliance with the standard stretches over 20 years.

These standards only apply to Florida "class 1" (drinking water supply) and "class 3" (fishing, swimming, natural habitat) surface waters.

It applies to those class 1 and 3 lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams, and springs and explicitly excludes the drainage system of South Florida, meaning that it will have no negative impact on South Florida.  If anything, having sources of pollution cleaned up north of us, means less down-stream pollution to deal with.

Lynda Bell's resolution also repeatedly states that the EPA didn't use "sound science" in determining these standards, when in fact they've taken local concerns into account using reams of data and the final rule allows for variations in geology and soils in setting the standards, allows “site specific alternate criteria” that take unique characteristics of a water body into consideration. DERM was on record saying that there were "disputes over the science" which allowed the notion that it was a "lack" of science in development of the standards.

The University of Florida Agricultural Science division - the folks who run the statewide agricultural extensions - published this report explaining the impact of the standards on the state and basically said that this wouldn't affect agricultural interests already partnering with FDEP through their Best Management Practices and goes into detail about the exemptions for South Florida. The discussions around those standards are starting now.