By Ron Littlepage
September 15, 2016
Florida Times Union
As it stands now, your state government is hellbent on allowing higher amounts of cancer-causing chemicals to pollute our rivers and streams.
When any sane person would be saying that zero carcinogens in our surface waters would be the right amount, the state is saying, more, more, more.
That’s the way it works at the misnamed Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which is securely under the thumb of Gov. Rick Scott, who has done much to decimate environmental protection during his agonizingly long six years in office.
The entire process for establishing limits on the amounts of chemicals allowed in our waterways has been a sham from the beginning.
First, the DEP used a method to set standards that no other state has used to meet federal requirements under the Clean Water Act.
Then in an effort to claim transparency in setting the new standards, which increase acceptable levels for more than two dozen known carcinogens, DEP touts that it has held 13 public hearings, none of which, by the way, were in Jacksonville.
It doesn’t readily mention, however, that 10 of those hearings were held in 2013 or that only three were held this year before rushing to get approval of the Environmental Regulation Commission on July 26 instead of in September as originally scheduled before it was fast tracked at the end of June.
It was a close vote, 3-2. Two important slots on the seven-member commission, representing environmental interests and local governments, were vacant.
If those two positions had been filled, the vote could have easily gone the other way, but Scott, who appoints the commissioners, has left them open.
Several groups quickly filed challenges to the commission’s decision.
One was the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which has a particular interest in the amount of dangerous chemicals that end up in the state’s water.
In setting the standards, DEP took into account how much fish people eat. In other words, how much benzene with your supper is OK before it becomes a health risk?
The Tribe argues that the rule doesn’t protect its members who rely on fish from the state’s rivers and streams as a primary source of food.
The city of Miami and Martin County, both of which have reasons to be concerned about the impact on waterways, also challenged the commission’s decision.
So did the Pulp and Paper Association, which — surprise, surprise — thinks the new rules are too stringent.
But what began as a sham — the DEP relying on a never-before-tried method appropriately known as Monte Carlo, a lack of transparency, a rush to get the commission’s approval while there was still two key vacancies — continued on that path Tuesday.
That’s when an administrative law judge dismissed the challenges on a technicality.
Never mind that the rule making process could very well be flawed, never mind that the result could be people dying of cancer, the judge ruled the challengers hadn’t met the deadline for filing appeals — barely.
The groups will have to decide whether to ask the District Court of Appeal to overturn the judge’s decision on the grounds the wrong deadline was used.
While that plays out, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who has expressed concern about allowing more carcinogens in our waters, should pressure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to send the rules back and tell the DEP to try again.
On another front, City Councilman Jim Love has introduced a resolution in City Council that urges Scott to not forward the new rules to the EPA for approval — fat chance of that happening.
But it also asks the EPA to scrutinize how the new rules were established and to call for more public hearings.
Our City Council members represent a city that has a rather large stake in this — the St. Johns River and its tributaries — and that has been left out of the conversation so far. They should approve the resolution and urge our congressional representatives to join Nelson’s efforts.