Former SWFWMD Director Kuhl - Not So Fast My Friend

Gary Kuhl is a  former executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and County Administrator for both Citrus and Hernando counties. He is also the former Water Team Leader for Hillsborough County and is currently an active member of the Florida Conservation Coalition.  His letter is published here with his permission.  It rings with validity and carries significance because of his professional background – he’s an engineer – and his considerable experience in Florida water resource management.                     - Sandspur

 

Not So Fast My Friend

Just when it was starting to feel like the Governor and the Florida Legislature might be trying to head in the right direction and “get the water right”, things sure look like they are going south AGAIN. The Governor recently suggested putting money in the State’s budget to assist with Everglades management and improvement in water routing to minimize the disastrous impacts seen this past summer in the Indian River Lagoon---putridly polluted runoff waters released into the Lagoon from Lake Okeechobee apparently killed hundreds of dolphin, pelicans and manatees over this past year. Granted the Governor’s proposed budget amount for the Eveglades is a pittance compared to what is needed, yet it seemed like a positive start. State monies were recently spent with great fanfare to cleanup some of the State’s springheads including the Chassahowitzka spring in southwest Citrus County. It is well known that it is going to take serious action upstream of these springheads to stop the nutrient and water consumption problems, but again these springhead cleanup projects seemed to be a good start. And Southwest Florida Water Management District employees have tried hard to keep local citizens informed of progress on these spring projects. There SEEMED to be a few other good signs of recognition by elected State officials of our water problems and hence potential problems for Florida’s future.

Rainbow River
Photo by Gary Kuhl

But not so fast my friend---enter Pam Bondi, Florida’s Attorney General, who surely receives direction and supervision from our own Governor Scott, to join some twenty other state attorneys general with formal letters supporting a lawsuit by the American Farm Bureau Federation filed against the feds and the State of Maryland for (GASP!) cleaning up Chesapeake Bay! She, Bondi, claims her only desire here is to stop federal overreach, i.e., to stop a cooperative environmental cleanup program between six states, the District of Columbia and yes, the federal government. How does her action make any sense? It’s embarrassing for our State. When’s the last time you ate an oyster or crab harvested from Chesapeake Bay?? That Bay is a mess--kind of like Indian River Lagoon.

Right behind Bondi comes Florida Panhandle Representative Jimmy Patronis with proposed legislation (HB 703) to eliminate or severely limit Florida counties and municipalities from managing and regulating their own local development and projects impacting our environment. Remember the Florida Legislature two years ago dismantled Florida’s growth management laws and the State department responsible thereof. The reason given was, gosh, the local county and city governments could handle all that stuff. Is there a pattern here?

Is there a decided approach to dismantle the substance of forty some years of environmental consciousness promulgated by bipartisan Florida governors and legislators? Looks like no one will be overseeing development or long term planning or “you name it” in Florida, a state that has now has almost 19 million residents and millions more annual visitors. Guess who supports this bill, HB 703? Is it the same folks who are suing Maryland because they are trying to clean up their own Chesapeake Bay through planning and, yes, regulation of farming and development practices? On the long haul, fair and well thought-out regulations are job savers, not job killers.

And finally along comes our Speaker of the House, Will Weatherford, who proclaims that he is “punting the water stuff” to next year’s legislative session. He acknowledges that Florida’s water issues are real and have been a long time in the making and will take a long time to solve. It is very hard to understand how a responsible leader in our State government could make such an ill-considered statement for non-action. It is a problem, it will take a long time to solve it.  So let’s put it off another year!??   

Kudos to Senator Charlie Dean along with four other Florida Senators who have drafted a proposed bill aimed at protecting and enhancing Florida’s dying springs, and really, our fresh groundwater resources for drinking, irrigation and industry use. Senator Dean in a recent presentation at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Crystal River Wildlife Management Refuge Complex, explained the bill he was instrumental in drafting. He cited the proposed bill as long overdue and the “right thing to do” for our State.  These five Senators and their proposed bill need our strong support through citizen letters and phone calls to elected officials, such as our Governor and other senators and representatives. Senator Dean along with getting his proposed bill passed, will need to fight to quash HB 703.  Patronis’ bill opens the door to the old days in Florida----totally unmanaged growth along with an apparent path to privatization of our water resources. Guess who is already strongly lobbying against Senator Dean’s bill? You got it---lobbyists for agricultural and development interests.

Don’t get me wrong, I personally like agricultural, chamber of commerce, industry and home builder folks----many of us have relatives and good friends in these groups. I like Representative Patronis; several of us met with him this past summer to express our concerns about his bill that passed last year, further weakening water management districts in Florida. I like jobs being created here in Florida and good pay for employees. Positive cash flow into our state is probably good. BUT, if we mess up what brings people and businesses to our beautiful and unique State, its water and its environment, we can kiss it all good-bye. Selling or polluting our natural resources for the highest bidder, to get re-elected as governor or attorney general or legislator; or to bring big bucks to a few folks to the detriment of a long term healthy Florida is dead wrong.  Maybe many have never seen a Florida spring in the wild and maybe some could care less about “the environment” but we taxpayers will pay the bill to try to fix the mess if our water is not properly managed NOW.  We have got to help Senator Dean get his bill passed and kill House Bill 703.

Respectfully submitted, 

Gary W. Kuhl

February 20, 2014

 

Bondi’s anti-cleanup message stirs pointed responses

Last week, representing you, the residents of Florida, and using your tax dollars, Florida attorney general, Pamela Jo Bondi, unbelievably, took legal action opposing local efforts to clean up Chesapeake Bay.  (See http://swfwmdmatters.blogspot.com/2014/02/florida-sues-to-stop-clean-up-of.html) The action, with the apparent blessing of Florida governor Rick Scott, has triggered reactions both here and there.  Here are two letters, one from Manley Fuller, President of the Florida Wildlife

AG Pam Bondi
filed legal action to stop
cleanup of Chesapeake Bay

Federation, and Jennifer Hecker, Director of Resource Policy, Conservancy of Southwest Florida.                             - Sandspur

 

Re: “Florida joins states in brief challenging water ruling” (news, Feb. 4). 

We were stunned that Florida would attempt to derail the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint. As we continue our own fight to improve waterway conditions in Florida and in neighboring states like Georgia and Alabama, we should be looking for ways to reduce our own pollution and clean our own water, not attacking other states’ solutions. 

After years of failed proposals, the landmark Chesapeake plan was approved with support from all six watershed states and is recognized as “cooperative federalism” in a recent ruling by a federal judge. Those living in the Chesapeake region recognize, as do Floridians, that a healthy economy is intrinsically linked to a healthy environment. Like Florida, Chesapeake states know that a healthy watershed is vital to its multibillion-dollar tourism, recreation and commercial seafood industry. 

Chesapeake Bay, ACF River Basin, St. Johns River and the Everglades are recognized as America’s Great Waters for their national significance. It is imperative that we cooperate across the country on efforts to restore our Great Waters for our critical natural resources and nature-based economy. 

MANLEY K. FULLER 

President, Florida Wildlife Federation
wildfed@gmail.com

 

Florida Needs to Stop Its Dirty Water Lawsuit

Last week, the State of Florida used your tax dollars to take legal action to try to stop the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.  While dirty water abounds here at home, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a brief against the Bay clean-up plan.

Bondi, and other state attorneys generals, joined polluters including the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Pork Council, The Fertilizer Institute, National Beef Cattleman’s Association and others, to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from carrying out its plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. These are the same types of polluting industries we’ve been trying to get to stop pollution at its source here in Florida. They are also the same polluting interests that joined Bondi in suing the EPA to fight protective enforceable water quality standards for controlling fertilizer, sewage and agricultural runoff into waters used for drinking, swimming and fishing.

Florida’s waters and the Chesapeake Bay are being polluted by the same nutrient pollution. Therefore, the implementation of an effective nutrient pollution clean-up plan for the Chesapeake would also mean that Florida’s polluters would be forced to treat their own pollution on-site, rather than disposing of it in our waterways. This would save us from continuing to pay the price in lost tourism, lower real estate values and the expense of publicly funded clean-up projects. We understand why the polluters would fight the clean-up of the Chesapeake, but are confounded and outraged as to why our state would join their fight.

This cannot be credibly portrayed as a state’s rights issue, as the Chesapeake Bay states signed and supported the clean-up plan. This also cannot be portrayed as protecting Floridian’s interests, as this is not in Florida and would set a negative precedent for establishing effective clean-up plans for Florida’s waters.

Contact Florida’s Governor Rick Scott at 850-488-7146 and Florida’s Attorney General Pam Bondi at 850-414-3990, to tell them they need to stop and withdraw this dirty water lawsuit immediately and to use our tax dollars to clean up Florida’s polluted waters instead.

And to the people of the Chesapeake Bay region, we apologize that Florida’s leadership would try to prevent you from having a clean bay for you to safely enjoy. Please know that we want you to have clean water, just as much as we want it for ourselves.

For more information on protecting Florida’s waterways, visit www.conservancy.org or call 239-262-0304.

Jennifer Hecker

Director of Natural Resource Policy
Conservancy of Southwest Florida

 

Quote - Ron Littlepage, ( ron.littlepage@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4280) Florida Times Union, Via Florida Conservation Coalition News Brief:

“Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and her buddy Governor Rick Scott have lost their minds. Last week, Bondi joined in a lawsuit to undermine an agreement that would clean up one of the nation’s most valued bodies of water, the Chesapeake Bay… That puts Bondi and by extension all Floridians on the side of the American Farm Bureau Federation in being pro-pollution and anti-clean water.” Littlepage continues, “You can forget about those environmental clothes Scott has been masquerading in of late while making a big deal about handing out dollars for restoring the Everglades and our iconic springs. Scott and Bondi are all about protecting Big Ag’s ability to pollute for profits.” Read Why are Florida leaders involved with Chesapeake Bay? Find the legal brief challenging the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Plan here.

 

Florida Sues to Stop Clean Up of Chesapeake Bay!! What??

Recently, it seems, Tallahassee republicans, i.e. governor FUBAR Scott and now attorney general Pam Bondi, have been desperately trying to convince you that they have become suddenly enlightened toward the fragility of Florida’s uniquely sensitive natural environment.  (Oh, the glory of it if it were only true!)  But every time we begin to sense some good could be breaking free of the suffocating detritus that otherwise envelops the state’s capital, truth is loosed on the scam and the dream is quickly doused, leaving only the foul smell of ruined hopes.

A clean Chesapeake Bay
is NOT in Florida's best interest.
What ???

Recall the growing number of photo ops involving governor FUBAR and the AG that have been reported celebrating the result of some tax-funded largesse, which they always pronounce proudly (with a straight face even) will have fantastically positive impacts upon the state’s environmental disaster du jour.

When truth leaks free from the controlled environs of our fair capital-of-deceit-and-prevarication, the real direction toward which Florida’s republican leadership is taking the state becomes clear.

Did you read where AG Bondi, surely with the blessing and at the behest of governor FUBAR Scott, has decided that a plan to clean up Chesapeake Bay and improve its decaying water quality is not in the best interest of you and me, and has sued to stop it?  Yes, your governor and your attorney general whom you put into office is spending your money and saying they represent your interest filed a brief Monday with the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Maryland, asking that it overturn a lower federal court ruling upholding the legality of the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint.

Chesapeake Bay, ” … is an estuary lying inland from the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the largest such body in the US.^[2] More than 150 rivers and streams^[2] flow into the Bay's 64,299 square miles (166,534 km²) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia, according to Wikipedia.

Why?  The thing Bondi’s afraid of is the same thing DEP says is going to be the savior of all of Florida’s springs, rivers, and all its water bodies where Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL’s) have been set or will be by DEP, and for good reason.  DEP says a TMDL is:

“ … A scientific determination of the maximum amount of a given pollutant that a surface water can absorb and still meet the water quality standards that protect human health and aquatic life. Water bodies that do not meet water quality standards are identified as "impaired" for the particular pollutants of concern--nutrients, bacteria, mercury, etc.--and TMDLs must be developed, adopted and implemented for those pollutants to reduce pollutants and clean up the water body.

An established TMDL, in other words, is the “line in sand”, the absolute limit beyond which there will be no further despoliation of a water body by a given pollutant.  It is the ultimate tool designed to stop polluters from continuing to add to the demise of a water body.  It is the ultimate protector of the Common that says if the level of a pollutant has reached this specified quantity or amount (insert a specific measurement), none further will be allowed no matter how small.  It is a concept born of the idea that we cannot continue to despoil our earthly nest without the ultimate result, our own demise as a society.

TMDLs are important but basing them upon science and not politics is equally as important if their purpose is not to be corrupted.

Florida’s attempt to stop the establishment of TMDLs on one of the country’s most iconic water bodies is a travesty beyond words.  And, when read in context with the importance TMDLs will hopefully play in the ultimate and final protection of Florida’s own natural systems, it is incredibly disingenuous and, frankly, stupid.

You will not be surprised to know who is behind this anti-Florida insanity.  Think American Farm Bureau and other pro-agriculture and development groups, i.e., big Ag and developers.  Think also that if it’s the national groups there, you can bet the Florida groups here are right behind it as well, including the Florida Chamber, and that’s why Bondi is on board.  Think also, who are among the most zealous polluters of our springs, rivers and aquifers? 

Public Servant

Once again, outrageously, it’s not your interests being served here, it’s special interests indeed. 

Same old song.  And it’s getting very old.

Contact Pamela Jo Bondi now, please.  Tell her how much you believe she’s making a terrible mistake and that the amicus brief she has filed on your behalf should be supportive of setting these limits, not in opposition of them.  You can reach her HERE.

Read the Baltimore Sun's editorial about this matter HERE.
Read the Miami Herald's editorial by Carl Hiaasen HERE