Report for 06/29/2011
CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY – EPA/NNC
June 24, 2011.
Director of the Office of Agriculture Water Policy Stresses
Shortcomings of Numeric Nutrient Criteria Before House Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources
and Environment
Washington, D.C.
- Rich Budell, Director of the Florida Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services’ Office of Agriculture Water Policy, appeared
before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment today to review the
shortcomings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
numeric nutrient criteria imposed on Florida.
“Florida believes
strongly that any nutrient reduction strategy should focus on
measurable environmental and biological improvement, while
optimizing cost and efficiency,” said Budell. “In the preamble to
their rule, EPA admits that they were unable to find a
cause-and-effect relationship between nutrient concentration and
biological response for flowing waters like streams and rivers. In
the absence of that cause-and-effect relationship, there can be no
certainty that the money and human resources devoted to reduce
nutrient content in a stream or river will result in any measurable
improvement in the biological condition of that stream or river.”
Budell not only
addressed the issues with the policy, but also emphasized Florida’s
proactive measures to make it the frontrunner for all other states
in regard to improving water quality.
“Florida believes
that Florida is best positioned to assess the health of its waters
and establish associated water quality criteria for their protection
and restoration,” said Budell. “We believe that our track record for
the implementation of progressive and successful water resource
management programs is one of the best in the country. Florida has
earned the right to exercise the authority envisioned by the Clean
Water Act to develop its own water quality standards and implement
them through an EPA approved and predictable process governed by
existing state law.”
Florida has placed
substantial emphasis on the monitoring and assessment of its waters,
collecting more water quality data than any other state. In fact,
more than 30 percent of all water quality data in EPA’s national
water quality database come from Florida.
The state’s Best
Management Practices program, which has been implemented on more
than eight million acres of agricultural and commercial forest
lands, is also firmly rooted in state law, backed by sound science
and critical to Florida’s overall water resource management
programs.
Already, Florida
has made significant progress in nutrient reduction water resource
restoration. Examples range from Tampa Bay where sea grasses have
returned to levels not seen since the 1950s and now cover 30,000
acres, to Lake Apopka, where phosphorous levels have been reduced by
56 percent and water clarity has increased by 54 percent.
During his
testimony, Budell expressed concern with EPA’s rule making process,
stating that it allowed for little input, discussion and dialogue
from key stakeholders. He also noted that while Florida’s sunshine
laws make all data available to the public, EPA restricted public
access to this information and did not make all relevant analyses
available for comment throughout the rule making process.
Furthermore, he
criticized the methods used by EPA to construct its rules, stating
that they were inconsistent with EPA’s own guidance documents and
the advice of EPA’s Science Advisory Board. EPA also compounded this
issue, inappropriately applying the methods it did use. As a result,
in many cases the rule would deem healthy waters impaired.
Florida believes
that, because so many other natural factors affect how nutrients
impact ecosystems, nutrient management decisions are best determined
on a site-specific basis. EPA criteria did not link numeric criteria
with an assessment of the biological health of a water body;
therefore, in some cases, Florida residents and agencies will be
required to implement nutrient reduction strategies that would
reduce nitrogen and phosphorous to levels below natural background.
There is also great
uncertainty and debate over the cost of implementing these criteria.
While EPA estimates range from $135 million to $236 million
annually, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services estimates $1.6 billion annually for only agricultural land
uses and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
estimates nearly $2 billion for only urban storm water upgrades. A
study commissioned by a large coalition of Florida-based public and
private entities estimates total implementation between $1 billion
and $8.4 billion annually. The state is pleased EPA has agreed to
request that the National Research Council convene a panel to review
all of the economic studies and render an opinion on the likely
costs of implementation.
In response to
concerns with EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria policy, Florida’s
Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam in partnership with Attorney
General Pam Bondi filed a complaint in Federal Court challenging the
rule. Over 30 other entities, both public and private, have
subsequently filed similar Federal complaints against EPA and their
Florida numeric nutrient criteria, citing the same shortcomings.
For more
information on the hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Water
Resources and Environment, please visit:
http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=1306.
For more
information about the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, visit
www.FreshFromFlorida.com or follow Commissioner Putnam on
Facebook,
www.facebook.com/adamputnam, or Twitter, @adamputnam.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEETING DATE:
The first meeting of the Committee on
Economic Analysis of Final Water Quality
Standards for Nutrients for Lakes and Flowing Waters in Florida is
scheduled for July 25-27 in Orlando, FL. The meeting will
begin at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, July 25 and Tuesday, July 26.
Sessions Open to the Public
-
Monday, July 25 (10:30 am to 5:00 pm)
-
Tuesday, July 26 (10: 45 am to 2:00 pm)
MEETING LOCATION
Embassy Suites
Orlando by the airport. The address is 5835 T. G. Lee
Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32822.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY: 2.2 MILLION GALLON SEWER SPILL
We have reported these before. When this happens again and
again, it amazing that sewer systems are still the preferred choice
of environmentalists. In the grand scheme of things, between
every day exfiltration and “accidents” like this, septic systems are
a whole lot more reliable and functional and cause far less
environmental damage.
|
Written by:
Kris Wernowsky
A public health warning is in effect for the waters near the
University of West Florida after 2.2 million gallons of raw sewage
spilled from a nearby sewer main into the surrounding wetlands.
Dozens of smelly dead fish lined the shores and waterways of the
boat launch Friday near the entrance of UWF's Edward Ball Nature
Trail on Friday, two days after the spill. Boaters were warned to
stay away.
Not until late Friday afternoon, after inquiries by a News Journal
reporter, did the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority post a public
notice on its website referencing the leak, which began Wednesday
morning.
The spill resulted from a 12-inch PVC pipe breaking near the lift
station on Greenbrier Boulevard, which dead-ends just west of UWF.
The sewage then leaked into Sandy Creek and flowed north to Thompson
Bayou, ECUA spokesman Jim Roberts said in a news release.
ECUA operators noticed about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday that there was a
major reduction in wastewater flow through the Greenbrier lift
station. The loss of flow first was thought to be from a disruption
caused by lightning strikes in the area, but it was determined about
2:30 p.m. that day to be from a pipe breakage, said Pat Byrne, ECUA
deputy executive director of utility operations.
Antoinette Noel, who lives in the last house on Greenbrier Boulevard
before the ECUA property, said she noticed a strange smell and a lot
of liquid gushing over the unpaved access road Wednesday morning as
she took her dogs to the vet. "It smelled like something died," she
said. "It was gushing out of the woods. I had no idea what happened,
but it didn't look right."
Once identified, the broken pipe was repaired and tankers were used
to take the sewage to a lift station, Byrne said. It was not a new
segment laid during the construction of the new $316 million
wastewater treatment plant in Cantonment, which went online in
December.
What caused the break still isn't known. "We can't stop a pipe from
breaking. It's a black eye, and we don't like it. It should not have
failed," Byrne said. Read the full article! |