Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board
September 27, 2016
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott’s order to require the public to be told of any pollution incidents within 24 hours is a rare victory for open government, public health and the environment. It also is common sense, and the Legislature should follow up next year by passing legislation to put the requirements into state law.
For three weeks, the Department of Environmental Protection kept quiet about a massive sinkhole at a Polk County phosphate operation that dumped 215 million gallons of contaminated water into the aquifer. For five days, St. Petersburg officials and the state did not tell the general public about 58 million gallons of wastewater that spilled from the city’s northwest treatment plant. And even then, Mayor Rick Kriseman’s assertion that the spill was essentially as clean as reclaimed water turned out to be false.
It is flat wrong to leave the public in the dark about such environmental emergencies, particularly when they could threaten drinking water supplies or the general public health. But rather than do the right thing, public officials hid behind state law that did not require public notice of either the sinkhole at the Mosaic plant in Mulberry or the overflows of millions of gallons of partially treated sewage in St. Petersburg. And when questioned, DEP officials predictably complained about the news coverage rather than address their failure to put transparency and the public first.
In Polk County, public officials hid behind state law that only requires the public to be notified if contamination moves beyond the property where the spill occurred. Never mind that the aquifer does not observe property lines. And even if notification is required, the 2005 state law says a business discovering contamination has spread beyond its borders has to notify DEP no later than 10 days after the discovery — and then DEP has 30 days to notify nearby residents. That may have been better than nothing when the law was passed a decade ago, but not by much.
Scott’s direction to DEP is a dramatic improvement. It requires DEP, local governments and the general public to be notified of pollution within 24 hours by the responsible parties. Within 48 hours, they must be notified of any potential risks to public health, safety and welfare of surrounding areas. And within 24 hours of becoming aware that pollution has affected areas off the property where pollution occurred, the same notification must take place. It would be better to also require DEP to release the information, and the rules should be enshrined in state law with substantial penalties for failing to comply.
Overall, this governor has a terrible record on open government. His effort to make emails from his office readily available to the public was a failure. He agreed to pay a Tallahassee lawyer $700,000 in public money last year to settle public records lawsuits alleging he and staff members violated state law after they created private email accounts to hide their communications — the first time a sitting governor has agreed to a settlement regarding public records violations. The governor and the three elected Cabinet members also agreed to more openness and training to settle another lawsuit by news organizations (including the Tampa Bay Times) accusing them of violating open meetings laws in the ouster of the commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In this case, Scott deserves credit for swiftly addressing a problem regarding too much secrecy about pollution that could directly affect the health and safety of Floridians. Hopefully it is a signal of a renewed commitment to open government.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-rick-scotts-positive-move-for-openness/2295474