A
crowd of over 100 sticker-covered, sign-waving Florida taxpayers rallied in front of Rockledge City
Hall on May 1 at a “Stand Up to Big Fertilizer! Stand Up for
the Indian River Lagoon” event
organized to defend the recently adopted City of Rockledge urban fertilizer
ordinance. The ordinance, one of over 50
local government ordinances in the state that include strong fertilizer pollution
controls, is threatened by preemption legislation in this last week of the
legislative session.
Protesters gathered to send a clear
message of support to the Rockledge City Council, which is not only defending
its ordinance from the attack on home rule coming from Tallahassee, but was also
feeling great pressure from the biggest supporters of preemption, the commercial fertilizer
applicators, who want the City Council to weaken the ordinance by giving
applicators a free pass to fertilize whenever they want.
Rockledge became ground
zero for the statewide fight to protect water resources from urban fertilizer
pollution when their own Representative Steve Crisafulli started the preemption
attempt a week after the Rockledge ordinance was adopted in March and at about
the same time the Indian River Lagoon became national news for the historic
number of algae-related manatee deaths. Moreover,
the fate of preemption legislation this year is in the hands of area Senator Thad
Altman, who has the ability to keep preemption off of his bill, SB 1684, when
it comes to the Senate floor for a vote on May 2.
Two Rockledge City Councilmen, Frank T. Forester, and Ted
J. Hartselle, Leesa Souto, Executive Director of Marine Resources Council, Laurilee Thompson of Dixie Crossroads (commercial seafood), Marty
Baum, Indian Riverkeeper, and Maureen
Rupe of the Sierra
Club Turtle Coast Group spoke to rally participants before the City Council
meeting that began at 6 pm.
Most of the rally participants then flowed into the City
Council chambers to support strengthening the local ordinance and to oppose
weakening it.
“The best way to kill our lagoon, the
fastest way to kill local jobs, is to tie local government hands so they cannot
protect them” said Maureen Rupe.
Councilman
Forester and Councilman Hartselle both spoke of the dire situation in the
Indian River Lagoon and how absolutely necessary it is for Rockledge and other
local governments to retain the right to keep strong fertilizer controls in
place. Forester stated: “We have to do something. We can’t sit and study it to death and wait
and wait and wait”. And the crowd did
not hide their gratitude to the councilmen when they urged everyone to keep up
the fight; applause, echos and hoots and hollers followed Councilman Hartselle’s
“We can do it!”.
Mark
Jacobs of Save Our Aquifer said: “We need to
stop polluting the lagoon with lawn fertilizers. It is more important to have a healthy lagoon
than to have unnaturally green turf grass. Many people I know have healthy turf grass and
use no fertilizers; polluting the lagoon with lawn fertilizers is a completely
senseless and unnecessary waste.
“The Lagoon
here is toxic. To sea grass, manatees,
pelicans, and if it’s toxic to them, it may be toxic to us. It is certainly toxic to our quality of life”
stated Leesa Souto.
All the speakers urged Senator
Thad Altman to save the day and stop preemption.
The Creature
from the Black Lagoon made a special appearance at the event to
announce he has moved into the Indian River Lagoon, changed his name
respectively, and now joins the dead manatees in chasing away the fisherman and
tourists.
Among
the many signs and stickers denouncing state preemption and supporting the
Rockledge ordinance, the most striking visual at the rally had to be the 11-foot
long array of photos of the dead manatees killed by toxic algae found in
Brevard County over the past months.
VICTORY:
At the City Council meeting after the protest, the Rockledge council
members voted to keep their ordinance strong, rejecting the opening of the code to exemptions to its strict rainy
season rules.
