Friday, February 12, 2016

Adam Putnam, Florida Ag Secretary: sacrifice Everglades to keep pressure off GOP ... BACKLASH growing ... by gimleteye



Adam Putnam, in line to be the next GOP candidate for governor of Florida, is substantially responsible for the new water policy law that ensures the gates of hell are open for Big Sugar polluters to destroy property values, public health and the environment downstream. Both Florida coasts are getting slammed by the polluted outfall from historic rains. Now, instead of supporting the will of the people, Gov. Rick Scott and his Big Sugar allies want to send the pollution into the Everglades, where taxpayers have already invested billions. Read about it on Bullsugar.org's website.

STATEMENT BY DAVID GUEST ON GOV. SCOTT’S LETTER TODAY TO THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS ABOUT POLLUTED LAKE OKEECHOBEE DISCHARGES

David Guest, Managing Attorney for the Florida office of Earthjustice:
“The problem is that the state continues to allow Big Agriculture, especially Big Sugar, to pump its polluted wastewater into Lake Okeechobee, which is a public water body. We’re not allowed to pump our septic tank waste into our neighbor’s yard, and these corporate agricultural operations shouldn’t be allowed to.

This debate shouldn’t be about moving the water around. It should be about making agriculture clean the water up. With the recently passed water policy law, the Legislature and the Governor made the rules even more permissive. The law, incredibly, eliminates pollution permits for agricultural operations around Lake Okeechobee. These polluting operations are now on the honor system, which is outrageous.

The nasty, polluted water that’s now killing fish and other marine life on the Southeast and Southwest coasts is a direct result of the state’s incredibly weak policies. Make no mistake: These policies were carefully crafted by big-bucks agricultural lobbyists and enacted by their friends in power.”

Earthjustice is the nation’s premier national nonprofit environmental law organization.

No comments: